A Southby's employee displays the rare Blue Moon Diamond. Photo / Martial Trezzini / Keystone / AP
A Southby's employee displays the rare Blue Moon Diamond. Photo / Martial Trezzini / Keystone / AP
The rare and flawless Blue Moon Diamond has sold for 48.6 million Swiss francs (NZ$74 million) to a Hong Kong buyer, setting a world record for a gemstone at auction, Sotheby's says.
The cushion-shaped diamond, mounted on a ring, has the top grading of fancy vivid blue and weighs 12.03carats. It had a pre-sale estimate of US$35 million to $US55 million.
"It is a new record price for any gemstone and per carat," David Bennett, worldwide chairman of Sotheby's international jewellery division, said.
Sotheby's employee displays the rare Blue Moon Diamond during a preview. Photo / Martial Trezzini / Keystone via AP
The Hong Kong buyer promptly renamed it The Blue Moon of Josephine, Bennett told reporters, noting that it had also set a world record for any jewel at more than US$4 million per carat.
At rival Christie's on Wednesday, a large diamond of a rare pink hue fetched 28.725 million Swiss francs.
Christie's said the stone, named The Sweet Josephine by the Hong Kong-based Chinese client who bought it, set a world record for any pink diamond ever offered at auction.
The same buyer is believed to have bought both star lots at the semi-annual sales in the Swiss city.
The blue diamond stone was found in South Africa's famed Cullinan mine in January 2014. The seller was New York-based jeweller Cora International, according to Sotheby's.
