Rare blue-green diamond sells for record $17.3 million at auction

A 5.5-carat triangular-cut diamond billed arsenic the largest fancy vivid blue-green diamond known to beryllium sold for $17.3 cardinal connected Wednesday, Christie's said, calling it a grounds terms for a chromatic of its benignant sold astatine auction.

The "Ocean Dream," the standout connection astatine the auction house's Geneva merchantability of jewelry, was recovered successful Central Africa successful the 1990s. The terms easy topped the presale estimation to fetch 7-10 cardinal francs (around $9-13 million).

Rahul Kadakia, president of Christie's Asia Pacific, said that an unspecified backstage lawsuit was the buyer, and the chromatic took astir 20 minutes to merchantability - an denotation that involvement was high.

The terms was much than treble that of the astir $8.5 cardinal that the gem, which was featured among uncommon colored diamonds astatine the Smithsonian Splendour of Diamonds Exhibition successful 2003, sold for astatine Christie's successful 2014.

"A stellar effect worthy of the world's rarest blue-green diamond," Tobias Kormind, managing manager of online jeweler 77 Diamonds, said successful a statement.

A Christie's worker displays "The Ocean Dream," the largest fancy vivid blue-green diamond, weighting 5.50 carats, astatine Christie's successful Geneva, Switzerland, Thursday, May 7, 2026. Jean-Christophe Bott / AP

According to Christie's, the "Ocean Dream" weighs 9.4 grams and has an further ringing equine acceptable with sculpted stone crystal, circular diamonds and pinkish diamonds.

On Tuesday, a 6-carat fancy vivid bluish diamond astatine a Geneva auction astatine Sotheby's didn't sell.

The auction location said that the uncommon chromatic unearthed from South Africa's famed Cullinan excavation had travel successful with a presale estimation of 7.2 cardinal to 9.6 cardinal francs ($9.2 cardinal to $12.3 million).

"Although the diamond didn't find a purchaser during the auction, we are present successful conversations with respective funny parties and are assured that it volition find a caller location soon," Sotheby's said successful a statement.

Both houses accidental collectors are progressively drawn to rare, colored diamonds, which marque up lone a fraction of each the diamonds mined astir the world.

Christie's and Soteby's person auctioned disconnected high-profile diamonds implicit the years.

In 2023, an exceptionally uncommon bluish diamond weighing 17.61 carats sold for $43.8 million astatine a Christie's auction successful Geneva. In 2018, the auction location sold the "Pink Legacy" diamond for much than $50 million.

The astir costly diamond ever sold astatine auction was the Pink Star, a 59.60-carat fancy vivid pinkish diamond that fetched $71.2 cardinal astatine a Sotheby's auction successful Hong Kong successful 2017.

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