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The Premier Blue. (Photo Credit: Sotheby's)



  Rare blue diamond expected to fetch record price at Hong Kong auction


August 26, 2013


A rare fancy colored diamond called the "Premier Blue" will be put up for auction at Sotheby's in Hong Kong in October, with pundits predicting that it will obtain a record per carat price for a blue diamond.

The vivid blue color and round-cut diamond weighs 7.59 carats, and is expected to fetch about $19 million, or $2.5 million per carat. In April, a 5.3-carat fancy deep-blue diamond was sold for $9.5 million in London, setting the current price-per-carat record for a blue diamond of $1.8 million.

The venue for the sale - in Asia, as opposed to New York, Geneva or London - is considered to be a coup for Hong Kong, and is indicative of the shifting powers of influence in the luxury product market. "While there is a slowdown [in Chinese economy], the number of top-level collectors are still there," Quek Chin Yeow, Sotheby Asia's deputy chairman, told AFP, the French news agency.

"Since about 2006, 2007, Hong Kong has ranked alongside Geneva and New York as a center for jewelry sales," Quek said. "It is now the third pillar of the global jewelry market."

Quek added that said Asian buyers have a specific preferences for round cuts and colors, which was one of the reasons for selling the Premier Blue in Hong Kong rather than in Europe or the United States.

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