London, April 8 (Inditop.com) A flawless pear-shaped blue diamond has been auctioned for over four million pounds in Hong Kong, a media report said Thursday.
The diamond, which was originally from De Beers Millennium Collection was expected to sell for between 3 million pounds and 3.8 million pounds at Sotheby’s, but it eventually sold for 4,221,533 pounds, The Telegraph reported.
The diamond, which had been owned by a private buyer, was one of 12 in a collection De Beers put together for the turn of the millennium and was displayed in 2000. The police had thwarted an attempt to steal the diamonds at the time.
Gem sales in Hong Kong have been increasing and the city has overtaken New York to become Sotheby’s second biggest market after Geneva.
“There have been a lot of new diamond buyers from mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and elsewhere in the region.
“I think after the financial crisis, the Asian buyers realised that the prices of diamond are relatively stable compared to other types of auction items,” Terry Chu, deputy head of Sotheby’s jewellery department for China and South-east Asia, was quoted as saying.
