Editor’s Note
This article details the record-breaking auction of the legendary Mellon Blue diamond at Christie’s Geneva, exploring the intertwining narratives of extraordinary value, high society, and personal history behind the gem.
The fate of a legendary stone was sealed under the hammer of the “Magnificent Jewels” auction on November 11 at Christie’s in Geneva. Record-breaking sums, American high society, and gardening: the story of the romantic Mellon Blue diamond unfolds.
On November 11, €22,196,987 secured one of the most prestigious blue diamonds for a proud new owner. The stone, weighing just over 9 carats and set on a platinum ring adorned with white diamonds, soared at the conclusion of a Christie’s auction. Closely watched in Geneva, the auction house presented it alongside other major pieces, such as a diamond brooch that once belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte. High-flying competition, but it wasn’t enough to overshadow this famous pear-cut stone with its brilliant Fancy Vivid hue.
according to Max Fawcett, head of the Jewelry Department at Christie’s Geneva.
With rare purity and color, the Mellon Blue garners all superlatives. It must be said that while its sale price (certainly astronomical) did not reach the expected heights this time, that hasn’t always been the case. The last time it was put up for sale, in 2014 in New York, the stone earned the title of the world’s most expensive blue diamond, thanks to a price of over €28 million. A feat accompanied by another: the record for the highest price per carat ever achieved for a diamond. Thus, the diamond continued its journey after the death of its owner, an equally legendary figure who gave it its name, Mellon.
Until death did them part, the diamond was held by Rachel Lambert Mellon, known as “Bunny.” She passed away in 2014 at the venerable age of 103. This figure of New York high society possessed all the qualities of a Truman Capote Swan, except the official title. Above all, she possessed an immense collection of art and jewelry.
A renowned horticulturist, responsible for the Kennedy Rose Garden at the White House, Bunny cultivated her taste for jewelry with the greatest. The best client of Fulco di Verdura, the Italian aristocrat who designed jewelry for Gabrielle Chanel before Goossens, she was also close to Jean Schlumberger, from whom she acquired more than a hundred pieces, including the famous Bird on the Rock.
Discreet and more attracted to gardens than social events, Bunny Mellon did not often appear with her jewel. It was only at the historic sale of the late socialite’s estate—which also included two Rothko paintings—that the diamond received a setting, at the initiative of its buyer. The buyer also had it reworked to enhance its clarity, lightening it by 0.20 carats in the process. Thus endowed with new majesty, the jewel writes a new page of its myth in Geneva, not without brilliance.
