De Beers Cullinan Blue Diamond Nearly Breaks World Record Auction Price

May 6, 2022

The largest vivid blue diamond to ever appear on auction sold for a staggering sum at Sotheby's in Hong Kong on April 27th. The gem named 'De Beers Cullinan Blue' took eight minutes of bidding between four determined individuals to bring the auction to an end for over $57 million.

The auction house set a US $48 million pre-sale estimate figure before the bidding on April 27th; however, the bidding war pushed the figure to the near world record of US $57,471,960 million. 

However, the world record still sits with the Oppenheimer Blue diamond, which sold for $57,541,779 on May 18, 2016. At the time, Oppenheimer Blue was the largest fancy vivid blue diamond to sell at auction. In 2016, Christie's expected US $45 million for the 14.62-carat blue diamond.

The history of the 15.10-carat step-cut diamond is interesting. It was discovered in South Africa's Cullinan mine in 2021 before achieving the highest rankings possible for a colored diamond. It is rated a 'fancy vivid blue' by the Gemological Institute of America. 

Tobias Kormind, managing direct of Europe's largest online jeweler, 77 Diamonds, provided an interesting comment to Forbes concerning why natural diamonds are currently seen as a major investment opportunity. "Against a backdrop of anticipated hyperinflation and unstable geopolitics, we are now witnessing an oft-seen tendency for the uber-wealthy to turn towards hard assets for investment."

Upcoming auctions will see the 228.31-carat white diamond, the largest of its kind to come to auction, dubbed 'The Rock' be sold on May 11, 2022, by Christie's. The diamond is expected to sell for approximately $30 million. Finally, the Red Cross Diamond, a 205-carat canary yellow, is expected to sell for 10.7 million in May 2022.