A previous appraisal set the Oppenheimer Blue with a tag price somewhere between $38 and $45 million but the actual sale price exceeded the expectations by more than $10 million.
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At 14.62 carats, the rectangular-cut Oppenheimer Blue is the largest and best quality blue diamond of its size to ever appear at auction, with a classification of vivid blue.
Sotheby’s fetched a record price in the Fancy Vivid Pink Category on Tuesday, when a private buyer in Asia scooped up a 15.38-carat stone for US$31.6 million.
The largest and fanciest vivid blue diamond ever offered at auction has sold for a record breaking $80 million..
The previous record was set by Hong Kong billionaire Joseph Lau, who paid nearly $50 million for a 12.03-carat, fancy blue diamond called “Blue Moon” at Sotheby’s past year.
The identity of the buyer is not yet known.
Sotheby’s also sold a blue diamond, weighing 7.32 carats, for US$17.1 million.
“There’s been several other blue diamonds which have been sold in the past, but nothing really quite of this quality”, Sancroft-Baker said, adding that while the stone wasn’t internally flawless, it was “nearly ideal”.
Last week Canadian mining company Lucara Diamond on announced the sale of a huge 813-carat uncut diamond for a record US$63 million (€55 million).
Christie’s spokeswoman Alexandra Kindermann said the bidding for the “Oppenheimer Blue” lasted over 25 minutes for the single lot, after starting at 30 million francs.
The sale rounded out a two-day run of big-ticket jewelry auctions in Geneva.
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The sale of the Oppenheimer came about a month before another diamond auction is expected to take a princely haul.
