The cousin of Qatar’s ruler cannot force a fellow member of the royal family to sell him the Idol’s Eye, a 70.21-carat blue diamond that is worth millions, according to the London High Court.
In a February 13 ruling, the court dismissed Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani’s claim that a clause from an agreement with the diamond’s owner — his relative Sheikh Saoud bin Mohammed Ali Al Thani — and Elanus Holdings, a company hired to manage the diamond, had kicked in. The clause, called a pre-emption right, would have required Elanus to sell the stone to Sheikh Hamad for GBP 10 million ($12.6 million).
Shortly before Sheikh Saoud’s death in 2014, he lent the diamond to Qatar Investment & Projects Development Holding (QIPCO), which Sheikh Hamad ran. The agreement allegedly included the option to give QIPCO first refusal on the purchase of the diamond should Elanus decide to sell.
The disagreement over the stone’s sale came into play following a short period in 2020 when Sheikh Saoud’s family considered selling the diamond and requested estimates from Christie’s and Sotheby’s on its value at auction.
While Sheikh Saoud’s family was interested in exploring the sale of the diamond, presiding judge Simon Birt found, it was not willing to sell for any price, which was why it had contacted the auction houses. That was not enough to trigger the obligation to provide the right of first refusal, according to the filing.
“[Sheikh Saoud’s son] did not want to sell at any price,” Birt stated in last week’s ruling. “He had no more than a generalized intention to sell if the price was right. Although he was keen to explore how a sale could be effected and what price could be achieved, he had not reached a final decision definitely to sell, and he did not have a settled intention to carry a sale.”
Christie’s estimated that the stone, which is said to have been discovered in the Golconda mines, could fetch up to $35 million at auction, given its provenance and history, and the possibility of recutting it to make it fancy light blue.
Image: The London High Court. (Shutterstock)
