All in One – ‘The Perfect Blue’, ‘The Ocean Dream’ and ‘The Rajah’ at Christie’s

April 13th, 2014 by Noam Flint

Only few days after Sotheby’s built up the excitement and expectations in regards to the 100 carat “Graff Vivid Yellow Diamond”, and while we are still anxiously waiting to the April Christie’s NY auction that will feature Harry Winston 6.10 carat pink diamond and other magnificent jewelry – Christie’s does it again and makes headlines with “The Blue” which has also earned the name – “The Perfect Blue“.

What makes ‘The Blue’ Perfect?

While the auction’s catalog was not fully released yet, we now know that on Wednesday, 14th of May, at the Geneva Magnificent Jewels auction Christie’s will try to set a world record with the Perfect Blue - a 13.22 carat Flawless Vivid Blue Diamond.

The Perfect Blue Diamond
The Perfect Blue – 13.22ct Flawless Vivid Blue Diamond
image: http://instagram.com/christiesinc

A short explanation of what we are looking at – what makes this diamond so… Perfect?

Blue diamonds are just about as rare as can get, secondary practically only to reds and greens. Even though the cause for all blue diamonds is boron, not all blue diamonds are the same.

When the GIA grade a blue diamond they also grade its intensity. The intensity scale goes as follows: Faint, Very Light, Light, Fancy Light, Fancy, Fancy Intense, Fancy Deep, and Fancy Vivid which is the highest color saturation (i.e. the strongest color).

But the perfection does not end there for this diamond – another extremely important attribute is the diamond’s clarity. How included it is? Is it fractured inside or does it show small black or white pinpoints? As you can guess by its name – it doesn’t.

Add the last but not least fact that we know of it – it is HUGE – at 13.22 carat – it is not a diamond one gets to see so often – regardless to color and clarity.

The combination of all three attributes simply makes it the best blue diamond in the world:

The largest flawless vivid blue diamond in the world so in simple words – It is the best blue diamond in the world.” (Rahul Kadakia, Christie’s head of jewelry Americas and Switzerland to Sky News)

Watch the diamond on video:

Will the Perfect Blue break records or will it break?

It is practically impossible to price these diamonds as each is truly one a kind. However, on the other hand, a flawless vivid blue diamond that comes to the auctions is definitely something you remember (and that Sothbey’s might want to forget).

At the Sotheby’s HK auction back in October 2013 they auctioned “the Premiere Blue“, a 7.59ct Flawless Round Brilliant Vivid Blue Diamond.

The estimations were as high as the expectations that the Premiere Blue will sell for $19 Million. Expectations that weren’t fulfilled. The diamond was not sold. Maybe their price estimations were too high – At $19 Million the Premiere was priced at $2.5 Million per carat and Christie’s do have more “modest” expectations of $21-$25 Million which comes to $1.6-$1.9 Million. Price range that somewhat resembles to “The Orange” they sold back in November – a 14.82 carat vivid orange diamond that Christie’s estimated at $20 Million and eventually sold for $35.5 Million.

Premier Blue Diamond by Sothebys Sotheby’s Premier Blue Diamond, 7.59 carat Internally Flawless Vivid Blue Diamond.
Photo credit – Sotheby’s

Christie’s Blue Legacy

There is another diamond that comes to mind when thinking of exceptionally rare flawless diamonds and it is the Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond.

During 2008 Sir Laurence Graff bought the Wittelsbach diamond at the Christie’s auction for the amount of $23.4 Million Dollars (a record at the time).
At the time of the sale, the historic diamond was graded as Fancy Deep Grayish Blue and weighed 35.56 carats with vs2 clarity.

The Wittelsbach Graff Diamond

The Wittelsbach Graff Diamond
Image – Wikipedia

Approximately two years later, at the beginning of 2010, it was announced that the diamond was repolished in order to improve its color and clarity.
An act that was met with criticism from historians and professionals. However, the process succeeded. The diamond was resent for evaluation at the GIA and received a Fancy Deep Blue color description with an Internally Flawless clarity grade. The priceless diamond which was renamed Wittelsbach-Graff was quoted to be worth $80 million!

The Ocean Dream and The Rajah

True, price wise, the Perfect Blue can sustain an auction on its own, but Christie’s, planning on achieving $60 Million at the auction and over $970 million annual for the jewelry department does not stop there…

There are two additional historic pieces that will be brought to auction.

The Ocean Dream is the a 5.50 carat vivid blue-green diamond which is the largest of it’s kind in the world. The estimated price is somewhere between $7.5 Million and $10 Million. The green blue color diamond is a very sought after and special turquoise color that does not often reach the auctions.

The Rajah is a diamond with a history. According to Sky News, it is thought to have purchased from India by Tiffany & Co in the 19th Century. It is estimated to sell for between $3 – $5 Million. The diamond was actually sold by Christie’s back in 1997 to the unknown person that now resells for profit – proving again that diamonds can be used for investment.