The exceptionally rare Bleu Royal gem is set to become one of the most expensive diamonds ever sold by Christie’s auction house when it goes under the hammer on Tuesday.
The Bleu Royal is the star lot in a series of sales in Geneva this month featuring items from film history, including pearls worn by Audrey Hepburn and Marlon Brando’s self-engraved watch.
Weighing 17.61 carats, the Bleu Royal is the largest internally flawless fancy vivid blue gemstone ever sold at auction.
The stone is expected to fetch between $35 million and $50 million at Christie’s Magnificent Jewels auction.
“It will be one of the top 10 jewels ever sold at Christie’s in terms of value,” Rahul Kadakia, Christie’s international head of jewellery, told AFP.
The diamond, set in a ring, has been in a private collection for 50 years.
Kadakia said many modern coloured diamonds have a modified cut to enhance the colour.
In the case of the Bleu Royal, “the rough material itself was so rich that they were able to cut it in a classic brilliant cut,” he said.
“It ticks all the boxes – really top of the class.”
Fancy vivid blue diamonds weighing more than 10 carats are exceptionally rare. Since Christie’s was founded in 1766, only three such stones have come up for sale — all in the last 13 years.
The Bulgari Blue sold for nearly $15.8 million in 2010, the Winston Blue fetched $23.8 million in 2014, and the Oppenheimer Blue realised $57.5 million in 2016.
“This level of the jewellery market has evolved into the same kind of appreciation as art,” says Kadakia.
“The market has seen that there’s a great scarcity of these special stones, and they’ve started to price them in the same way that great paintings are priced.”
The separate online jewellery sale, which runs until 16 November, features the pearl necklace worn by Hepburn in the 1953 film ‘Roman Holiday.
Hepburn, who played a princess in the romantic comedy, chose it from a selection offered by Austro-Hungarian jeweller Furst and returned it with a signed photograph.
It is being sold by a European collector and has a starting price of 18,000 Swiss francs ($20,000), but could go much higher in a bidding war.
“It only takes two people to make a party,” said Max Fawcett, head of jewellery at Christie’s in Geneva.
“Audrey Hepburn is an icon. Her fashion, her clothes and everything she ever wore is still highly sought after by collectors,” he told AFP.
“People love a story and private clients want to be part of those stories.”
At Monday’s Passion for Time watch sale, the timepiece worn by Brando in the 1979 Vietnam War film “Apocalypse Now” is expected to fetch between one and two million Swiss francs.
The circa 1972 Rolex GMT-Master is hand-engraved “M. Brando” on the back by the Oscar-winning US actor himself.
