An unnamed bidder paid $HK450.9 million, or $57.47 million, on Wednesday to win a 15.1-carat blue diamond at a Sotheby’s auction in Hong Kong, the company said.
The winner of the massive stone, dubbed the De Beers Cullinan Blue, comes away with the “largest vivid blue diamond ever to appear at auction,” Sotheby’s said in a news release. The diamond, which was “cut from an exceptional rough stone” discovered last year in South Africa’s Cullinan Mine, also is “the largest internally flawless step-cut vivid blue diamond” graded by the Gemological Institute of America, the release said.
“Blue diamonds of any kind are rare on the market, but this is the rarest of the rare; nothing of remotely similar caliber has appeared at auction in recent years,” Sotheby’s Asia Chairman Patti Wong said in a statement earlier this year. “Hundreds of millions of years in the making, this extraordinary blue diamond is surely one of nature’s finest creations.”
Although the diamond ended up fetching $9.47 million more than experts had anticipated, its final price failed to surpass the world record-setting $57.54 million paid for the 14.62-carat Oppenheimer Blue in 2016, according to CNN.
Photos: Rare 15.1-carat blue diamond fetches nearly $57.5M at auction The De Beers Cullinan Blue diamond is shown before being auctioned at Sotheby's on February 15, 2022, in New York City. (Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)
Photos: Rare 15.1-carat blue diamond fetches nearly $57.5M at auction Model Stephany Martins holds up the De Beers Cullinan Blue diamond during a press preview at Sotheby's in New York on February 15, 2022. (TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)
Photos: Rare 15.1-carat blue diamond fetches nearly $57.5M at auction The De Beers Cullinan Blue diamond is displayed before going being auctioned at Sotheby's on February 15, 2022, in New York City. (Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)
Photos: Rare 15.1-carat blue diamond fetches nearly $57.5M at auction The De Beers Cullinan Blue diamond is shown before being auctioned at Sotheby's on February 15, 2022, in New York City. (Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)
Photos: Rare 15.1-carat blue diamond fetches nearly $57.5M at auction NEW YORK, NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 15: The De Beers Cullinan Blue diamond is shown before being auctioned at Sotheby's on February 15, 2022 in New York City. The blue diamond is the largest and most valuable to appear at auction. (Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images) (Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)
Photos: Rare 15.1-carat blue diamond fetches nearly $57.5M at auction The De Beers Cullinan Blue diamond is shown before being auctioned at Sotheby's on February 15, 2022, in New York City. (Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)
Photos: Rare 15.1-carat blue diamond fetches nearly $57.5M at auction The De Beers Cullinan Blue diamond is shown before being auctioned at Sotheby's on February 15, 2022, in New York City. (Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)
Photos: Rare 15.1-carat blue diamond fetches nearly $57.5M at auction The De Beers Cullinan Blue diamond is displayed before going being auctioned at Sotheby's on February 15, 2022, in New York City. (Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)
Photos: Rare 15.1-carat blue diamond fetches nearly $57.5M at auction The De Beers Cullinan Blue diamond is displayed before going being auctioned at Sotheby's on February 15, 2022, in New York City. (Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)
Photos: Rare 15.1-carat blue diamond fetches nearly $57.5M at auction The De Beers Cullinan Blue diamond is shown before being auctioned at Sotheby's on February 15, 2022, in New York City. (Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)