A very rare 10.10-carat blue diamond, the largest oval-shaped, fancy vivid blue gem to ever be sold at an auction, is set to smash auction records in Asia, when it goes under Sotheby’s hammer next month.
The “De Beers Millennium Jewel 4” may not have the catchiest name in the history of record-breaking diamonds, but it certainly comes with an exciting story.
The internally flawless, fancy vivid blue diamond was part of the Millennium Jewels collection, unveiled by De Beers in 2000 to commemorate the turn of the century, and displayed at London’s Millennium Dome.
The rock, along with the 11 other rare stones in the collection (10 other blue diamonds and one 203.04-carat colourless diamond), was the target of an attempted multi-million pound robbery in November 2000, which was foiled by the Metropolitan Police.
According to Sotheby’s, the unique diamond — discovered in the Cullinan Mine in South Africa — is set to fetch between $30 and $35 million at the Hong Kong auction scheduled for April 5.
While the figure seems hefty for a diamond, it would make it the most expensive gemstone ever sold at an auction in Asia, but not in the world. That title went to the 12.03 carat “Blue Moon” diamond, sold in Geneva, Switzerland, to a Hong Kong billionaire for his seven-year-old daughter in November 2015 for $48.4million. He renamed it “The Blue Moon of Josephine.”
The “De Beers Millennium Jewel 4” will go on auction as part of a 270 lot “Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite,” which includes some of the world’s most unusual coloured diamonds.
The auction house will sell another coveted blue diamond, set in a ring once owned by former child star Shirley Temple, just a few days later in the U.S.
