A 9.5-carat blue diamond was sold at auction Thursday night for a record price of $32.6 million (26 million euros), the most ever paid for a diamond of that color.
"From the moment I saw this diamond, I knew that it would be one of the most important stones that I will ever have the privilege of presenting at auction," Gary Schuler, the director of Sotheby's Jewelry Department in New York, said in a communique.
The pear-shaped diamond, which had been appraised at up to $15 million (12 million euros), went to an anonymous collector in Hong Kong after the bidding by seven people went on for 20 minutes.
The previous record belonged to a blue diamond dubbed "Wittelsbach," which was sold by Christie's auction house to an anonymous bidder for $24.3 million in December 2008.
The diamond sold by Sotheby's belonged to the collection of Paul Mellon, the banker known for his investments in the finance, industrial and oil sectors, who in the last century amassed a fortune topped only by magnates like John D. Rockefeller and Henry Ford.
Other gems and jewelry from the same collection were sold at the Thursday night auction at Sotheby's New York for a total of more than $41 million (32.7 million euros), far above the $19.2 million (15.3 million euros) anticipated by the auction house.
Another of the night's outstanding pieces of jewelry was a 9.14-carat diamond pendant knocked down for $2.9 million (2.3 million euros) and a Cartier necklace of gold and diamonds auctioned off for $2.7 million (2.1 million euros
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Blue diamond auctioned for record price of $32.6 million
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