Geneva auction sees major sale of rare vivid blue diamond
The "Mellon Blue", a deep blue diamond of 9.51 carats set in a ring, was sold on Tuesday in Geneva for over 25 million dollars, a price in line with initial estimates for a gem of “exceptional purity.”
Christie’s announced the sale, CE Report quotes ANSA.
The diamond had been estimated by the auction house at between 20 and 30 million dollars. It was sold for 17.4 million Swiss francs, with a final price of $25,592,269 including taxes, according to Christie’s.
The same stone, then known as the "Zoe Diamond", had been sold for $32.6 million by Sotheby’s in New York in 2014, setting world records at the time for both a blue diamond and the price per carat.
The gem belonged for decades to Rachel Lambert Mellon, better known as “Bunny” Mellon (1910–2014), an American horticulturist, philanthropist, and art collector. At that time, the stone was set as a pendant. Bunny Mellon is particularly known for redesigning the White House Rose Garden in 1961 at the request of President John F. Kennedy.
The highest price ever achieved at Christie’s for a vivid blue diamond was set in Geneva in 2016, when the "Oppenheimer Blue" (14.62 carats) sold for $57.5 million.
