Editor’s Note
A 10.03-carat blue diamond named the “Mediterranean Blue” has sold for $21.5 million at a Sotheby’s auction in Geneva, exceeding its pre-sale estimate.
The “Mediterranean Blue” diamond was sold at auction for 21.5 million dollars (19.1 million euros) in Geneva, according to the auction house Sotheby’s. The imposing 10.03-carat blue diamond, which was estimated to be worth 20 million dollars, “generated enormous interest” during the sale, Sotheby’s stated in a press release issued on Tuesday evening.
For Tobias Kormind, director of 77 Diamonds, Europe’s largest online jeweler, the sale was nonetheless “less impressive” than expected, he emphasized in a statement.
he observed.
The bidding battle between two bidders started at 9 million Swiss francs and lasted “nearly three minutes.” An American private collector won the precious stone, the auction house specified, without revealing her identity.
said Quig Bruning, head of Sotheby’s jewelry department for North America, Europe, and the Middle East, after the sale.
The diamond was recently discovered in the legendary Cullinan mine in South Africa. It was then unveiled in early April in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
Quig Bruning had emphasized in the capital of the wealthy oil-rich emirate. According to Sotheby’s, “finding a blue diamond is an incredibly rare event.”