Blue Diamond Sets New Per Carat Price Record

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
May 12th 2010 at 7:02PM

Prices for blue diamonds continue to rise. At the Sotheby's auction in Geneva a 7.64 carat fancy intense blue cushion-shaped diamond mounted in yellow gold and platinum sold to an anonymous client for $8,034,503. That number sailed above the estimate of between $4-6 million, setting a new record price of $1,051,636 per for carat for a fancy intense blue diamond sold at auction. Sotheby's was the previous record holder with $796,178 per carat for a 3.17 carat fancy intense blue diamond in November 2009 in Geneva. Last May a 7.03 carat stone sold for $9.49 million.

Sotheby's says this is the largest cushion shaped stone of this color grading ever to appear at auction. The diamond is graded as a Fancy Intense Blue, Natural Colour, VVS2 Clarity, and comes with an additional GIA worksheet stating that the diamond may be Potentially Flawless after repolishing. The Sotheby's Spring Sales of Magnificent and Noble Jewels brought a total of $53,976,331, handily above pre-sale expectations of $32.4-46 million with most lots selling and more than 74 percent of the lots sold achieving prices in excess of their high estimate.

Tags: blue diamond, blue diamonds, jewelry auction, sothebys

Filed under: Jewelry

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

stephen May 13th 2010 7:26PM

Someone needs to tell these super-rich people that they have the same chance as a camel to get through the eye of a needle.

al schrader May 13th 2010 9:17PM

Camels don't wear diamonds. I'm the number two jeweler on earth, Palerma Picasso is number one (Pablo Picasso's daughter). I can get similar stones through Johanessburg, South Africa, but I don't waste my time. The real fun is in emeralds. I get the raw stones out of New York, and have them cut in Thailand...The piece I'm most proud of is the green onyx egg I made with diamonds and peridot stones....Alfred-

stephen May 13th 2010 9:58PM

I don't see the connection. Be careful not to hurt your arm patting yourself on the back.

mary grey May 13th 2010 10:31PM

they have the same chance as you do. You don't know their relationship with God. But yours sounds a little rocky being jealous of others

leolux10 May 13th 2010 9:35PM

Only idiots would spend so much "paper" on a useless "rock", encased in "metal". I'll tell you. Man can make "value" out of natural (thought to be free) elements. Go figure. They sure do look pretty. But, then what? A bragging session? "Hey! I just spent MILLIONS of dollars, on a diamond (rock) ring, with NO actual use! For a chick who can easily cheat, or leave me anyway! WHOO HOO!!!! Impressive, right?" lmao

Jewelry can be a good incestment, but at reasonable prices. Why would I buy a ring the price of a mansion? Sure, I most likely have several, but, it's a STUPID standard either way! Society, I tell you...

Funny world.

longfordmac2 May 13th 2010 9:45PM

Hey "AL" ...... who you talking to? Who gives a s_ _t about your post. Most people crap bigger than you based on your who gives a s _ _ t post.

Capeche, comprende, get it!

Rosa E. Frias May 13th 2010 10:05PM

Hey Alfred...is Paloma Picasso, not Palerma...your spelling tells me a lot about your knowledge of stones...ha..ha..ha

Rosa E. Frias May 13th 2010 10:10PM

Hey Alfred...

is PALOMA PICASSO, not Palerma...your spelling tells me a lot about your knowledge of stones... ha..ha..ha

krystal flash May 13th 2010 11:09PM

Why not do something useful with the diamond. Crush it to dust and coat drill bits with it.

Peter May 13th 2010 11:36PM

Wonder what the poor person who found this beauty got? Maybe dinner or a new pair of shoes or a beating for not finding a bigger one.

brad May 14th 2010 12:09AM

If people have that much money to spend and maybe cuz its rare it could be an investement but I googled the al shrader guy, but skeptical about anyone who brags so much, and also could mispell that badly the name of the number one diamond dealer. I found other postings he had on luxist, but really this site for me is just interesting and fantasyland , I doubt people with multimillions spend time on here ?? Don't know. I sure as heck wouldn't brag too much about being number two in the diamond business and giving out the address of your store...just saying!!!!! Anyway actually I'm more interested in cars so maybe I'm wasting time posting just like to catch people lieing happens way too much.

JO May 14th 2010 1:58AM

First of all diamonds are not rare, they are so abundant is Sierra Leon that the villages mud huts and the river banks sparkle in the sunlight as the mud is full of them, also you can go to any river in the country and pick up a hand full of roughs-the working conditions for the diamond miners are deployable at best , most making about 12 US dollars per month. Most live in poverty we cant imagine-People are kidnapped at gunpoint and forced to work the mines,many are killed, have their hands or arms cut off, wars fought and financed by diamonds-these liberal movie stars run around whining about how we should help these people while wearing a rock that killed millions-The only reason diamonds cost so much is the Debeers controls the market, they only release about 1% of the diamonds they mine into the retail market driving up the price, but if they were to release all of them, you could buy them in bubble gums machines for 25 cents-A symbol of love? More like a symbol of poverty,war and death=

KarenLovesAlex4ever May 14th 2010 4:07PM

It looks just like Blue Topaz & sterling to me -lmao !!!.
My hubby JUST bought me a NEW wedding set for our 17th anniversary, and he only paid 10,000.00 for it. It is Princess-Cut- (of course), huge center stone,flanked by more diamonds of different cuts --it is BREATHTAKING- and looks SO ELABORATE next to this one -- and i KNOW--this one they show is some RARE perfect blue diamond, but to be honest, if it isnt a white diamond i will not wear it .
He got this ring from Hannoush Jewelers....(it was one of their more HIGH END rings)---THE OWNERS ARE MY COUSINS, SO HUBBY GOT A GOOD DEAL .... 10,000.00 FOR A 16,500.00 RING .....I LOVE THIS RING ...But remember gals, i settled for a pueny 1.5 carat and kept it for years and years, before getting this HUGE stone ring& matching band ......He said he would get it on our 20th, but he couldn't wait---that is soooo sweet !!!!!!!!!...OMG !!!..plus, my birthday is saturday may 15th , so i got this on this past mother's day as a mom's day &
b-day combined gift...MY GOD, THIS RING IS THE RING OF ALL RINGS !!!!... THE PANDORA HANNOUSH COMMERCIAL YOU SEE ON TV, THE GIRL WITH THE BROWN HAIR IN THE COMMERCIAL IS ONE OF MY COUSINS.....IF YOU WANT GOOD JEWELRY,GO TO HANNOUSH JEWELERS.COM.......GOOD DEALS ALL THE TIME .....AND I LOVE MY GORGEOUS RING I JUST GOT FROM HUBBY !!!!! (HUGE CENTER STONE)--NICE STONES SIDES...OMG,.--IT IS HUGE & VERY HIGH IN QUALITY & I LOVEEEE IT !!!!!!!!!! .....PEOPLE ,GO TO HANNOUSH JEWELERS-- NOT ONLY ARE THEY A GREAT FAMILY JEWELERS, BUT THEY ARE MY COUSINS, UNCLES, AUNTS, ETC.......THEY ARE GREAT PEOPLE .....AND THE DEALS ARE GOOD--ALL GREAT DIAMONDS, PRECIOUS, AND SEMI-PRECIOUS STONES, ETC, ETC.......YOU ALL SHOULD GO THERE --HUBBY DID, AND GOD, I LOVE MY RING SOOO MUCH --THE STONE IS HUGEEE , AND IT IS THE MOST ELABORATE, GORGEOUS SET I HAVE EVER LAID EYES ON !!!!!!......I LOVE YOU SOOO MUCH ALEX !!!!!!!......THANKS POPPY &NANA HANNOUSH !!!!!!....WE LOVE YOU ALL !!!!!!! ....

MichelleRN May 14th 2010 5:18AM

I will never buy, accept or wear a diamond. The diamond trade is corrupt and based on slavery and murder. The most "respectable" merchants obtain diamonds via channels which allow them to hide the fact that they are "blood diamonds" but the fact remains. I am not wearing something of absolutely NO real use which people were enslaved and died to obtain for me. Not a chance. Not EVER!