'Priciest gemstone per carat' sold

Last Modified: 16 May 2008
Source: PA News

A vivid blue 3.7-carat diamond ring has sold for just under five million US dollars (£2.5 million) at auction, becoming the priciest gemstone per carat ever, Sotheby's has said.

The oval-shaped stone - about the size of a pistachio shell - fetched a price of 1.33 million dollars (£665,000) per carat, edging out a similar blue diamond that sold last year in Hong Kong for 1.32 million dollars (£660,000 million) per carat. The auction house identified the buyer as London jeweller Laurence Graff, who is known in the industry as the "King of Diamonds".

In total, 423 lots sold for 57.1 million dollars (£28.5 million) on Thursday night at Geneva's plush Beau Rivage hotel.

Jewels of "noble provenance" or those defined as "period pieces" performed particularly well, said David Bennett, Sotheby's chairman of jewellery for Europe and the Middle East.

A 64-piece collection of jewels belonging to Lily Marinho, a French beauty queen who married two of Brazil's most powerful men, sold for 11 million dollars (£5.5 million) - easily clearing high-end estimates of 8.5 million dollars (£4.2 million).

The top piece from the collection was a pair of pear-shaped diamond drops, which sold to an unnamed buyer for 2.9 million dollars (£1.4 million).

Mrs Marinho, 87, was married to Brazilian millionaire Horacio de Carvalho and then Roberto Marinho, who died five years ago after building the Globo media empire.

On Wednesday evening, rival auctioneers Christie's nearly matched the Sotheby's jewels sale, fetching 57 million dollars (£28.5 million) over 265 lots.

The star of the show was a 13.4-carat "fancy intense blue" diamond that sold for 8.9 million dollars (£4.4 million). Christie's said it was a record for a coloured diamond.

Among the five other pieces that topped two million US dollars (£1 million) was an emerald, diamond and natural pearl necklace that was bought for more than 5.6 million dollars (£2.8 million), well over the high-end estimate of 3.1 million dollars (£1.5 million).

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