A ring featuring a 17.61-carat blue diamond sold at Christie’s Geneva on Tuesday for $44 million, becoming the most expensive auction jewel of 2023.
The pear-shaped Bleu Royal is also the largest fancy-vivid-blue, internally flawless diamond ever to appear at auction. Bidding for the ring, which made its debut after 40 years in a private collection, went on for seven minutes at the Magnificent Jewels event, Christie’s reported Wednesday. The final price came in at the upper end of its presale estimate, which ranged from $35 million to $50 million.
In total, the Geneva auction garnered $77.7 million, with participants from 37 countries taking part and 93% of the items finding buyers.
On Monday, Christie’s held a watch sale that brought in $62 million, the company added.
The auction house is also in the midst of its Jewels Online: The Geneva Edit sale, which began last week and ends on November 16.
Here are the other four pieces rounding out the top five at Magnificent Jewels:
Main image: The Bleu Royal diamond. (Christie’s)
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