‘The Mediterranean Blue’ sold to a US collector at Sotheby’s Geneva for $21.5 mn

Rare blue “The Mediterranean Blue”, a fancy vivid blue diamond weighing 10.3 carats with an estimated value of $20 million, attracted an intense bidding battle. Bidding began at nine million Swiss francs ($10.8 million), with a fierce back and forth before the diamond was ultimately sold to a private US collector, whose name was not given, for $21.5 million, Sotheby’s said.

The Mediterranean Blue, which is a brand-new blue diamond recently mined from the legendary Cullinan mines of South Africa, generated huge excitement within the diamond industry ever since it was first announced in March, the auction house said. Ahead of its final showing in Geneva on Tuesday, it was unveiled as part of a Sotheby’s debut exhibition in Abu Dhabi last month, where it was showcased alongside seven other “extraordinary” diamonds and gemstones collectively worth over $100 million.