FLOAT 100 · Jewelry · No. 91
The Bleu Royal
For half a century a 17.61-carat pear of flawless, vivid blue sat unseen in a private collection; in November 2023 it surfaced in Geneva, and seven minutes later it was the most expensive jewel sold anywhere that year.
- Year
- sold 2023
- By price in jewelry
- 8 of 100
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Create a free account- Weight
- 17.61 carats
- Grade
- Fancy Vivid blue, Internally Flawless (GIA report 2215099190)
- Shape
- Pear brilliant cut
- Setting
- A ring, flanked by two pear-shaped D-color, Internally Flawless white diamonds of about 3 carats each
- Provenance
- An unnamed private collection, reported as 50 years by the seller's announcement and as 40 years in one sale report
- Sold
- November 7, 2023, in Geneva, for CHF 39,505,000 with fees, reported as $43.8 million
- Estimate
- $35 million to $50 million
- Buyer
- An anonymous private collector, reported as an Asian buyer bidding by telephone
- Distinction
- The largest Internally Flawless Fancy Vivid blue diamond ever offered at auction, and the top jewelry lot of 2023
A stone with no public past
Almost nothing about the Bleu Royal's early life is public. The seller's announcement said only that it had been part of an important private collection for the past 50 years and that this was the first time the stone, set in a ring, had ever been offered at auction. One trade report after the sale said instead that the ring had been off the market for 40 years. No mine, cutter or earlier owner has been named.
What is on the record is the stone itself. It is a pear-shaped brilliant of 17.61 carats, graded by the Gemological Institute of America as Fancy Vivid blue and Internally Flawless, under report number 2215099190. In the ring it sits between two pear-shaped white diamonds, each about 3 carats, both D color and Internally Flawless.
Rahul Kadakia, the auction house's international head of jewelry, pointed to one unusual detail: the rough crystal was so richly colored that the cutters could give it a classic brilliant faceting style. Many large blue diamonds are cut in styles chosen to concentrate their color; this one did not need the help.
How rare a vivid blue of this size is
Fancy Vivid blue diamonds over 10 carats are extremely rare. In more than 250 years of business, the Geneva seller said, it had offered only three, all within the previous 13 years: the 10.95-carat Bulgari Blue, sold in New York in October 2010 for $15,762,500; the 13.22-carat Winston Blue, sold in Geneva in May 2014 for $23,795,372; and the 14.62-carat Oppenheimer Blue, sold in Geneva in May 2016 for $57,541,779, still the record for a blue diamond.
At 17.61 carats the Bleu Royal outweighs all of them, and it combines that size with the top color grade and an Internally Flawless clarity grade. That combination is why it was billed, and later confirmed, as the largest Internally Flawless Fancy Vivid blue diamond ever to appear at auction.
'This is a true miracle of nature,' Kadakia said when the sale was announced, noting the firm's 257-year history of selling the world's rarest gems.
Six cities in five weeks
Before the sale, the ring traveled. It was shown in Hong Kong from October 4 to 7, 2023, then Beijing on October 10 and 11, Shanghai on October 13 and 14, Taipei on October 21 and 22, and New York on October 26 and 27, before going on view in Geneva from November 2 until the day of the sale.
It was the top lot of a Magnificent Jewels sale on November 7, 2023, at the Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues in Geneva, with an estimate of $35 million to $50 million. A trade columnist noted that a result in that range would put it among the five most expensive fancy blue diamonds ever sold at auction.
The world outside was tense that autumn. Israel had declared war after the October 7 Hamas attacks, and the day before the sale the death toll in Gaza was reported to have passed 10,000.
Seven minutes in Geneva
Bidding opened at CHF 19 million. Three telephone bidders, each on the line with a member of the auction house's staff, pushed the price to CHF 32 million within about a minute, after which it rose in CHF 500,000 steps. A client represented by the firm's general manager for South China answered every bid almost immediately until the hammer fell at CHF 34 million.
With fees and tax the final price was CHF 39,505,000, reported as $43.8 million, or nearly $2.5 million per carat, at the upper end of the estimate. The whole contest lasted about seven minutes. The buyer was described as an anonymous private collector and, in one report, as an Asian buyer.
The firm's head of jewelry called it the most expensive jewelry lot sold in all of 2023 by any auction house, and among the ten most expensive jewelry lots ever sold. The full sale that evening totaled $77.7 million, with 93 percent of lots sold and bidders from 37 countries.
Where it sits among the great blues
The Bleu Royal did not break the price record for a blue diamond. The 14.62-carat Oppenheimer Blue, sold in Geneva in 2016 for $57.5 million, and the 15.10-carat De Beers Cullinan Blue, sold in Hong Kong in 2022 for just over $57 million, both brought more, as did the 12.03-carat Blue Moon of Josephine, sold in New York in 2015 for $48.46 million.
Its claim is size and purity together: no larger Internally Flawless Fancy Vivid blue had ever come to auction. Its new owner has not been named, and no later sale has been reported.
The numbers
- Carat weight
- 17.61 ct
- Color and clarity
- Fancy Vivid blue, Internally Flawless
- Cut
- Pear brilliant
- Lab report
- GIA 2215099190
- Side stones
- Two pear-shaped D-color Internally Flawless diamonds, about 3 ct each
- Price per carat
- Nearly $2.5 million
Timeline
The Geneva sale of the 17.61-carat Bleu Royal is announced, with an estimate of $35 million to $50 million.
The ring goes on view in Hong Kong, the first stop of its tour.
It is shown in Beijing.
It is shown in Shanghai.
It is shown in Taipei.
It is shown in New York.
It goes on view in Geneva ahead of the sale.
It sells at the Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues in Geneva for CHF 39,505,000, reported as $43.8 million, after seven minutes of bidding.
The world in 2023
A magnitude 6.9 earthquake strikes Morocco, killing at least 2,960 people.
Hamas attacks Israel; Israel declares war the next day.
Microsoft closes its $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
The Swiss People's Party keeps its lead in Switzerland's federal election.
The first AI Safety Summit is held in the United Kingdom.
The Beatles release 'Now and Then', billed as their last song.
Portugal's Prime Minister Antonio Costa announces his resignation.
Price record
| Date | Price | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 7, 2023 | $50,000,000 | Estimate, not a saleHigh pre-sale estimate; the low estimate was $35 million. |
| Nov 7, 2023 | $43,800,000 | Sold at auctionSold in Geneva for CHF 39,505,000 including fees (hammer CHF 34 million) to an anonymous telephone bidder after seven minutes. |
A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.
By reference price, The Bleu Royal is number 8 of 100 in the jewelry entries of the FLOAT 100. 44 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (91 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.
Did you know
- The two white diamonds beside it are each about 3 carats and graded D, Internally Flawless.
- Bidding opened at CHF 19 million and passed CHF 32 million within about a minute.
- Before it, the Geneva seller had offered only three Fancy Vivid blues over 10 carats in its 257-year history.
- Its color was rich enough to allow a classic brilliant cut, which does not concentrate color the way many blue-diamond cuts do.
- Nobody outside the sale knows where it was for the 50 years before 2023.
- Its price was the highest for any jewelry lot sold at auction in 2023.
How this page is made
- The figure
- One reference price, shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
- Realized or not
- A realized price is a completed sale. An asking price, an estimate and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
- The story
- Researched from published records and checked fact by fact. Updated Oct 3, 2026.
- Archive
- Oct 5, 2026