Will One De Beers Cullinan Blue Diamond Price Exceed Five Monets? AOC Jewelry News

The De Beers Cullinan Blue

On April 27, The De Beers Cullinan Blue diamond will be auctioned by Sotheby’s Hong Kong. This extraordinary 15.10 carat step-cut blue diamond has a preauction estimate of $48 million and could generate a significantly higher price, leaving five Monet paintings in the dust in the value of acquisitions in the art world.

In April 2021 an exceptional rough stone weighing 39.34 carats was discovered at South Africa’s Petra Diamonds Cullinan mine. This phenomenal blue diamond was sold in July 2021 for $40.1 million to the De Beers and Diacore partnership, achieving a price of $1,021,357 per carat.

Cullinan is known as the world’s most important source of blue diamonds, as well as being the birthplace of the 3,106-carat Cullinan diamond, which was cut to form the 530-carat Great Star of Africa.

The operation also yielded the 317-carat Second Star of Africa. They are the two largest diamonds in the British Crown Jewels. De Beers divested itself of the mine in 2007, part of a larger business strategy to turn to the marketing and selling of diamonds, while turning over mining to more local ownership.

It’s noteworthy that $40 million of the $48 million estimate did go to the Petra mining operation. There is significant loss in ‘waste’ created in cutting the De Beers Cullinan Blue. Presumably there is some value in the ‘waste’ but common sense suggests that the perfect blue diamond will sell at a price higher than $48 million, the highest estimate ever for a blue diamond.