'Ocean Dream' blue-green diamond sells for more than $17 million at Christie's auction in Geneva
Yahoo • • business
Key Points:
- A 5.5-carat triangular-cut diamond called the "Ocean Dream," the largest fancy vivid blue-green diamond known, sold for over 13.5 million Swiss francs ($17.3 million) at Christie's Geneva auction, setting a record price for its kind.
- The diamond, discovered in Central Africa in the 1990s, sold for more than double its 2014 auction price of approximately $8.5 million and exceeded its presale estimate of 7-10 million francs.
- The buyer was an unspecified private client, and the sale took about 20 minutes, reflecting strong interest in rare colored diamonds.
- Meanwhile, a six-carat fancy vivid blue diamond from South Africa’s Cullinan mine failed to sell at Sotheby's Geneva auction despite a presale estimate of 7.2 to 9.6 million francs, though the auction house remains optimistic about finding a buyer.
- Both Christie's and Sotheby's note a growing collector interest in rare colored diamonds, which represent only a small fraction of diamonds mined worldwide.