Rare blue diamond sells for record $48.5 million at auction

The buyer is said to have immediately renamed the gem “The Blue Moon of Josephine” after his daughter, according to the South China Morning Post.

The 12.03 carat blue diamond is the largest cushion shaped fancy vivid blue diamond ever appear at auction. Sotheby’s has put its estimated sale price between $35-$55 million which, at the top end, would break the auction record.

Lau renamed the USD48.39-million jewel “The Blue Moon of Josephine” while the pink diamond was renamed “Sweet Josephine”, all for the love of his daughter.

The current record for a blue diamond belongs to the Zoe Diamond, which in November 2014 fetched $32.6 million in NY. The precious jewel’s anticipated sale by Christie’s is part of a week of auctions that could see another coloured gemstone set a new world record.

David Bennet, head of Sotheby’s global jewellery division, said the “Blue Moon” was “the most expensive diamond, regardless of colour, and the most expensive jewel ever sold at auction”.

Sotheby’s says experts took five months for an “intense study” of the original diamond, and a master cutter took another three months to craft, cut and polish the stone.

The distinctive blue color in diamonds is attributed to hint quantities of the factor boron within the crystal construction.

A fancy vivid purple-pink, pear-formed diamond ring bought for 13.9 million francs, the second-highest lot of the night time.

A large blue diamond has become the most expensive piece of jewellery after being sold at an auction for £32million.

A Cartier diamond and pearl tiara that survived Germany’s sinking of the Lusitania cruise liner 100 years ago, along with its Canadian owner Marguerite Lady Allan, whose two daughters perished, went for $800,000 in heated bidding, doubling the low end of its estimate.

“Overall, it was an extraordinary evening”, Bennett said.