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A pendant with two intense blue pear-shaped rose-cut diamonds and an intense pink diamond

Christie's New York Jewels

Four blue diamonds up for auction in one night

To have one blue diamond come up for auction is an occasion.

But to have four blue diamonds in the same sale?

“This is very rare,” remarks Rahul Kadakia, head of jewelry for Christie’s New York. “In the 7,000 to 8,000 lots that we see worldwide in a year, we may only have two or three blue diamonds.”

Kadakia believes that serendipity, more than current economic conditions, is the reason the four stones have come to market at one time. Nevertheless, blue diamonds have been bringing exceptional prices of late.

In May, Sotheby’s auction house sold a flawless vivid blue diamond weighing 7.03 carats for a record 10.5 million Swiss francs ($9.49 million U.S.), the highest price paid per carat for any gemstone at auction. In Dec. 2008, the 35.56 carat gem known as the Wittelsbach diamond sold for $24.3 million at Christie’s London sale. The stone had royal provenance and could be traced back to the 17th century.

The four blue diamonds in Christie’s New York Jewels sale on June 11 appear in three lots. The first is a pendant with 5.01 carat and 2.03 carat fancy intense blue pear-shaped rose-cut diamonds separated by a 3.01 carat fancy intense pink hexagonal-cut diamond. The estimate is available by request.

The second blue diamond lot is a ring with a fancy dark gray-blue modified rectangular-cut diamond, weighing approximately 3.28 carats. It is estimated to sell for $250,000 to $350,000.

The final lot of the sale is a 6.29 carat unmounted pear-shaped internally-flawless diamond in a fancy intense blue. The estimate is $3.5 to $5.5 million for what Kadakia calls, “a very, very rare stone.”

Blue diamonds are known for their royal associations including Louis XIV, who owned a very large blue diamond known as the French Blue.

For those who have never seen a blue diamond and wonder how it might compare to a blue sapphire or other stone, Kadakia has this to say:

“The greatest distinction between a coloured or white diamond and other gems is that a diamond is harder than all the other gemstones put together. It’s the hardness that gives it the lustre, and brilliance and sparkle. So when you look at a blue diamond, you know it’s a diamond.”