$48.4 Million For 'Blue Moon' Diamond Surpasses World Auction Record

The 12.03 carat blue moon crushed all the records Wednesday at Sotheby's Geneva Magnificient Jewels and Noble Jewels deal. The cushion-shaped Internally Flawless Fancy Vivid blue precious diamond sold for more than $48.4 million, setting a world public sale records for any jewel, diamond or gem. It's the first precious stone or gemstone to overstep $4 million for every carat, considered an auction record.
It was bought nearly at its estimate of around $35 to $55 million.

The purchaser has been distinguished as an extremely rich person and billionaire Hong Kong real estate investor Joseph Lau. According to news reports, he is the same man who had paid a record $28.5 million for a 16.08 carat cushion-shaped fancy vivid pink diamond at Christie's Geneva sale on Tuesday. He named both jewels after his seven-year-old little girl, Josephine. 'The Blue Moon of Josephine' for his latest purchase and 'Sweet Josephine' for the pink diamond, according to Forbes.

Joseph Lau has been listed as the sixth richest man in Hong Kong and 114th wealthiest globally. A Hong Kong-based representative of Lau confirmed the two purchases to AFP.

David Bennett, head of Sotheby's international jewellery division, said the 'Blue Moon' sale broke several records, making the gemstone "the most expensive diamond, regardless of colour, and the most expensive jewel ever sold at auction", as reported by NDTV.

The past record for a gemstone sold at auction was held by the 24.78 carats "Graf Pink" precious diamond, which was sold by Sotheby's for around $46.2 million in November 2010.

This is not the first time when Lau has purchased rare jewels for his daughter. In 2009, he apparently spent around $9.5 million on another blue jewel which he renamed the "Star of Josephine", according to Independent.

There is no other known blue diamond with this blend of size and qualities, concluded Gemologist Gary Roskin, executive director of International Colored Gemstone Association.

"It took Cora experts five months to assess the rough stone", said Laniado, Chairman of Cora International, the seller of Blue Moon.

"Then they created 30 models of the diamond and cut each one differently until they achieved the perfect result. It took three more months to bring the blue moon diamond to its ultimate spectacular shape using advanced technology and sophisticated tools", he further added.

And it just took one single night to make the auction history, though.