Register to get 1 more free article
Reveal the article below by registering for our email newsletter.
Want unlimited access? View Plans
Already have an account? Sign in
The Cullinan Dream has sold at auction for $25.3m (£17.5m), making it the most expensive fancy intense blue diamond to have ever gone under the hammer.
The 24.18-carat diamond – sold at Christie’s Magnificent Jewels & The Cullinan Dream auction in New York on Thursday 9 June – is named for its “captivating and celestial beauty” and has been graded by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) as a fancy intense blue diamond.
It is classified as Type IIb, a very rare type which accounts for less than one-half of one percent of all diamonds found in nature.
The cut-cornered rectangular mixed-cut diamond was created from a 122.52-carat blue rough diamond, which was found by Petra Diamonds at its Cullinan mine near Pretoria, South Africa, in June 2014.
The rough was polished into four diamonds of notable size, including a cushion-cut diamond of approximately 7 carats, a radiant-cut diamond of around 10.30 carats, an 11.3-carat pear-shaped diamond and the Cullinan Dream.
Rahul Kadakia, Christie’s international head of jewellery, said: “Christie’s is proud to have achieved yet another record with the 24.18 carat Cullinan Dream blue diamond, which sold for [£17.5m] in the presence of Mr. Mark Cullinan himself, the great grandson of Sir Thomas Cullinan.
“We now look forward to finishing the spring season in London and staging exciting fall sales beginning in October at Christie’s New York.”
