Fancy Blue Diamond Sets World Record at Sotheby’s Auction



Two fancy colored diamonds sold for record prices at auction this week—and they were both bought by the same man.

At Sotheby’s New York Magnificent Jewels auction on April 18, Brett Stettner of Stettner Investment Diamonds bought a fancy blue diamond ring from Tiffany & Co. for $2.4 million, or $687,712 per carat. The 3.54 ct. VS1 marquise fetched the auction’s top bid and went for several times more than its high estimate of $500,000.

According to Sotheby’s, that is a world record per-carat price for a fancy blue diamond, topping the 20.17 ct. fancy blue diamond ring that sold for $9.9 million ($490,952 per carat) at Sotheby’s New York in October 1994.

The previous day, Stettner set a U.S. record when he paid $15.7 million for the Clark Pink, a ring-set, 9 ct. cushion-cut, fancy vivid purplish pink diamond at a Christie’s New York auction.

Stettner says that he feels “humbled” to have won such rare stones.

“These are unique wonderful colored diamonds,” he says. “I am looking for diamonds that I can create value with and pass that value on to my clientele. There are not many stones like these. They are priceless.”

Overall, the Sotheby’s auction took in $43.1 million, the highest-ever total for a spring sale of jewelry at Sotheby’s New York, topping last April’s then-record tally of $39.4 million.

Other auction highlights:

  • A 23.02 ct. cushion-shape step-cut fancy vivid yellow diamond ring went for $1.8 million ($81,429 per carat).
  • A natural pearl and diamond necklace from Cartier Paris, circa 1935, went for $1.3 million.
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