by Richard W. Wise, G.G.

© 2013

Fancy diamonds are back in the news, another auction record broken  This time its blues.  At Bonhams of London, a 5.30-carat fancy deep-blue diamond set a world auction record for price per carat when it sold for approximately $7.3 million, or $1.8 million per carat bettering the previous record of 1.68 million per carat.  I recall a 5+ carat Fancy Deep blue emerald cut I viewed at the Las Vegas show some five years ago with an askiing price of 1 million per carat, quite a nice appreciation.

Some might argue that auction prices do not reflect actual market prices, but in the case of fancy colored diamonds and colored gems such as important ruby and sapphire, auction prices set the market.  This is a pattern that began to emerge in the 1990s and accelerated in the early 2000s as retail buyers became a larger factor in the auction market.  Online auctions also have helped spread the word about important gem sales and in many cases, auction prices actually lead the way.

Update on The Wittelsbach:

Another famous blue diamond is The Wittelsbach, the largest blue diamond ever sold at auction.   I wrote about this gem previously,   After being recut and regraded from Fancy Deep Grayish Blue to Fancy Deep Blue and exhibited at The Smithsonian Institution side by side with The Hope, London dealer Lawrence Graff reportedly sold the gem for $80,000,000 or something over 3.3 million per carat.

The Wittelsbach-Graff after recutting. Note the distinct grayish hue. Most published and Photoshopped images show the diamond as a rich pure medium hue, the reality is somewhat different; Photo: Gary Rossman