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Auction house Bonhams has sold a rare oval-cut fancy intense blue diamond for £2.3m.
The diamond, which came from a private British collection, weighed in at 3.81 carats and sold for $792,450 per carat (£610,000).
Jean Ghika, head of jewellery for Bonhams UK and Europe, said: “Blue diamonds account for only 0.004% of all diamonds mined and are therefore exceptionally rare and remain highly sought after.
“The price achieved in today’s auction demonstrates that the global appetite for coloured diamonds remains as buoyant as ever.”
Bonhams has had success selling blue diamonds in the past and currently holds two price-per-carat world auction records for a fancy deep blue diamond, which sold for $1.77m (£1.36m) per carat, and a fancy greyish-blue diamond at $730,000 (£562,000) per carat.
The second headline lot also featured a blue diamond, with a pair of late 19th Century Kashmir sapphire earrings, which weighed 8.97 and 8.93 carats, selling at £866,500 against their pre-sale estimate of £400,000 to £600,000.
White diamonds were also in demand during the three-hour sale, which achieved £6,440,200 and 92% of lots sold by value.
An 11-carat marquise-cut diamond also performed well. The D colour, VS1 clarity, type IIa stone sold for £614,500 against an estimate of £200,000-250,000, while a brilliant-cut 13.77-carat diamond single-stone ring sold for £302,500 against its estimate of £180,000 – £250,000.
