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O n 16 June, Sotheby's New York will offer a 10.02 carat cut-cornered rectangular modified brilliant Fancy Intense Blue diamond as part of our High Jewelry Sale.
It's a spectacular example of what the earth can produce, over millions of years and a very specific set of near-miraculous conditions: a scintillating crystal of pure sky blue. It is so rare that the Gemological Institute of America estimates that only .3% of colored diamonds submitted to its laboratory are predominantly blue. This particular Fancy Intense saturation notably has no modifying gray hue—even the Hope diamond has a grayish modifier.
Of course, this is not the first blue diamond that Sotheby's has sold. Inspired by this latest stone, we asked Catharine Becket, SVP, Global Head of High Jewelry at Sotheby's to reminisce about her favorite blue diamonds over the years. Below are some incredible stories that may even have you digging through your jewelry box, hunting for blues.
In 2014 we were invited to view the jewels of the great American tastemaker Mrs. Paul Mellon [most famously known as Bunny Mellon], we knew we'd be seeing a legendary group of works by Jean Schlumberger. What we weren't expecting, however, was one of the world's most extraordinary blue diamonds. Though graded Fancy Vivid Blue, it possessed such an incredible saturation of color—reminiscent of the Hope Diamond—that, for a split-second, we mistook for a sapphire. When the hammer finally came down on this 9.75-carat pear-shaped beauty, the salesroom erupted into cheers and applause. It had sold for $32.6 million—more than three times the estimate—making it the highest price ever achieved at the time not only for any diamond, but any jewel, at auction.
We soon broke our own record with the 12.03-carat Blue Moon diamond. Though mined just one year before it was offered at Sotheby's Geneva in 2015, the diamantaire painstakingly fashioned the diamond into a charming cushion shape, evocative of stones from Golconda, the first known source for blue diamonds. Similar to the Mellon blue, it has sensational depth of color. By this time, selfies were part of our daily existence. Tiaras are traditionally the top pick for social media posts, but that season it was all about the Blue Moon. I managed to get my own close-up with the diamond which I paired with a Cartier tiara that had almost gone down with the Lusitania.
We auction specialists—and our buyers—live for a good "discovery story." I've had many since I began in the Jewelry Department in 2005, but one of my favorites started with a young couple from Oklahoma. The woman's mother owned a consignment shop and in their inventory for many years was a small sapphire. Fortunately, someone told them that what they had, in fact, was a rare blue diamond. I was the lucky person who took the phone call after the GIA had classified it as Fancy Grayish Blue. Many blue diamonds have a touch of gray to them; those that are a pure blue—such as the 10.02-carat example we have for sale on June 16—command higher prices. The woman and her fiancé flew in from Oklahoma to attend the auction. We had set the estimate range at $150,000-200,000, knowing that it would create a healthy little scrum of bidders. I watched the couple as the currency board flashed higher and higher numbers. At $500,000, I could see tears starting form, and by the time we reached our final price of $860,000, I was teary too!
In the annals of "you can't make this stuff up," we had a beautiful 3.47-carat emerald-cut Fancy Intense Blue diamond in our April 2018 New York auction of Magnificent Jewels. To achieve a fancy color grade in a step-cut stone is a great rarity; the additional faceting found in other cutting styles helps trap the color. The stone was purchased by a Pan Am pilot on a trip to South Africa in the 1930s. He fell gravely ill upon his return to the States and, just before dying, he presented the diamond to his wife. The rarity and value of blue diamonds weren't fully appreciated at the time, and when her children contacted us years later they were astonished by our preliminary figure. The only issue? The ring had fallen down the sink disposal when their mother was doing the dishes and a large chip was taken out of one side. The stone was otherwise perfect and it soared to $6.7 million, more than three times the estimate.
I never actually spent time with this diamond but Quig Bruning, our Global Head of Jewelry, waxes poetically about its strong, consistent blue hue and its elongated cut. Ahead of the 2022 auction, I heard someone call it the world's smallest—and most expensive—swimming pool. Coming in at an extraordinary 15.10 carats, the Cullinan diamond (so named for the mine in which it was discovered) was graded Fancy Vivid Blue by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA)—the highest possible color grading, awarded to no more than 1% of blue diamonds submitted to the GIA. When it achieved $57.5 million in Hong Kong—the record for a blue diamond at auction—it proved once again that gemstones can hold their own against Monets, Picassos, and Pollocks.
