Then, the “oppenheimer blue” sold for .5 million the following day at Christie’s Geneva, making it the most expensive diamond to ever be auctioned.
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Dubbed the “gem of gems”, the emerald-cut blue diamond was named after the late Sir Philip Oppenheimer who oversaw De Beers’ mining operations and had given the stone to his wife.
The largest fancy vivid blue ever auctioned, the 14.62 ct. emerald-cut was once owned by Sir Philip Oppenheimer, the former head of De Beers’ Central Selling Organisation.
On May 16, another record was set at the Auction House’s Rare Watches sale, wherein a Charles-Louis Havas Breguet et Fils Pocket watch sold for more than $3.3 million.
The buyer’s identity has not yet been revealed. The sale price makes each carat of the almost 15-carat stone valued at nearly $4 million.
The Oppenheimer steals the title of world’s most expensive diamond from the 12.03 carat “Blue Moon of Josephine”, which held the previous record at $ 48.4 million.
A recent spate of eye-popping bids at Geneva’s semi-annual magnificent jewel auctions has highlighted the surging value of precious stones, with some of the world’s ultra-rich increasingly investing in hard assets as a safeguard against stock market volatility.
The history-making Oppenheimer Blue sale beat the previous record of $50 million spent by Joseph Lau for the sale of the Blue Moon of Josephine at Sotheby’s in November past year. The rare jewel just became the most expensive diamond to be sold at an auction to date. It handily topped its pre-sale estimate of 38 million Swiss francs to 45 million Swiss francs ($38.9 million – $46.1 million).
The blue diamond sold for SFr.
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That record sale figure for a rough diamond is unlikely to last very long.
