The 10.10-carat gem is an unusual find
A 10.10-carat blue diamond is expected to fetch over $30 million when it goes to auction on April 5 at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong. Dubbed the “De Beers Millennium Jewel 4,” the rare oval diamond was showcased in a 2000 exhibit at London’s Millennium Dome and will be only the second jewel from the collection to go to auction. Blue diamonds are rare, making up less than .1% of all diamonds from the South African Cullinan mine, where this gem originates, Sotheby’s said in a recent press release.
“This beautiful blue stone combining nature’s rare beauty, superlative color, unusual shape and illustrious provenance offers yet another wonderful collecting opportunity for connoisseurs worldwide,” Sotheby’s Asia Deputy Chairman Quek Chin Yeow said in a statement.
The diamond has been deemed “fancy vivid,” the Gemological Institute of America’s highest possible color grade for colored diamonds.