World’s biggest blue diamond, ‘exceptionally rare’ at 15 carats, sells for $57 million

The world’s biggest blue diamond currently has a sticker price to match its unique case.

The 15.10-carat diamond, called “The De Beers Cullinan Blue,” sold for $57.5 million Wednesday in a bartering at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong.

The stand-out diamond had been supposed to sell for about $48 million, however an unknown purchaser got the pearl through telephone following an eight-minute offering battle among four expected purchasers.

An official statement from Sotheby’s prominent that the precious stone comes from South Africa’s Cullinan mine and was acquired in 2021. It has since accomplished each of the greatest rankings on which shaded jewels are surveyed. The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) arranged the gem as “extravagant distinctive blue” – the top variety reviewing of its group.

“Blue precious stones of this significance are extraordinarily uncommon, with just five models more than 10 carats truly having come to sell, none of which have surpassed 15 carats, showing up of this faultless pearl a milestone occasion in itself,” a Sotheby’s assertion said.

With a last cost of $57,471,960, the diamond scarcely missed obscuring the record for the most costly blue precious stone ever to sell at closeout. The 14.62-carat “Oppenheimer Blue” sold in 2016 for $57,541,779. That is a distinction of just shy of $70,000.

“It is genuinely a once-in-a-age stone, and essentially the best blue diamond of its size I have at any point seen,” Patti Wong, administrator of Sotheby’s Asia, said in an explanation.