The Oppenheimer Blue

A color made by a trace of boron

Blue is among the rarest colors a diamond can have. One account puts naturally blue stones at about 0.02 percent of all diamonds mined. The color comes from trace amounts of boron in the crystal. Size narrows the field further: a report from the week of the sale said only about 10 percent of blue diamonds ever found are larger than one carat.

The Oppenheimer Blue weighs 14.62 carats and has Fancy Vivid, the highest color grade the Gemological Institute of America gives a blue diamond. GIA's report, dated May 14, 2015, describes the color as natural and the clarity as VVS1. It came to auction as the largest Fancy Vivid blue ever offered for sale.

No official record says where it was mined. A profile of the stone says it is believed to come from the Cullinan mine in South Africa, one of the few dependable sources of blue diamonds, and an independent gem history site names the same mine by its older name, the Premier. The sale catalog does not confirm either account.

The man who could have had any diamond

The stone is named for Sir Philip Oppenheimer of the Anglo-South African family whose company, De Beers, became the world's biggest diamond trader. He joined the family business in 1934 in its Central Selling Organisation, where he learned to sort and value rough diamonds, first in London and then in Antwerp. He joined the De Beers board in 1956, became chairman of its Diamond Trading Company in 1975, and was knighted in 1970.

He was also one of Britain's leading owner-breeders of racehorses. He was elected to the Jockey Club in 1971, and On the House, a filly he bred, won the 1,000 Guineas in 1982. De Beers sponsored the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes at Ascot from 1972. He died in London on October 8, 1995.

Sources disagree on when he was born. His obituary in The Independent and the 2016 sale catalog give 1916. Other references give October 29, 1911, and a New York Times obituary headline gave his age at death as 83.

The specialist who presented the stone in 2016 gave the reason for its fame plainly. The Oppenheimers had led the diamond industry for generations, he said, and Sir Philip 'could have had any diamond he wanted.' He chose this one for its 'perfect hue, impeccable proportions and fabulous rectangular shape.'

How to identify it

Fancy colored diamonds are not often cut as rounds or emerald cuts, because those shapes do not keep the color even throughout the stone. Max Fawcett, a jewelry specialist who first saw the stone at an exhibition at Verdura in New York a year before the sale, said that a large emerald cut 'completely saturated right from the top to the bottom' shows the quality of the stone. The Oppenheimer Blue fits that description: a rectangular step cut with deep blue color all the way through.

When it was sold, the stone was set in a platinum ring, size 6, between two trapeze-shaped diamonds. The lot also included its original 'Eight Blades' ring mounting, signed by the New York jeweler Verdura, and a hardbound GIA monograph with extra photography and data. Before the sale it was shown in New York in the exhibition 'The Power of Style: Verdura at 75,' from October 14 to December 23, 2014.

Three details identify the stone: its 14.62-carat weight, its Fancy Vivid Blue natural-color grade with VVS1 clarity, and GIA report number 10387774.

Twenty minutes in Geneva

The stone was the main lot of a jewelry sale in Geneva on May 18, 2016. Its presale estimate was CHF 38 million to CHF 45 million, given at the time as about $39.1 million to $46.4 million. The specialist presenting it called it 'the gem of gems.'

Two telephone bidders competed for about 20 minutes. One account says a third bidder dropped out at the low estimate. When the hammer fell, the packed room applauded. The price with fees was CHF 56,837,000, and reports converted it to dollars differently. Financial and trade press reported $57.5 million with fees and a hammer price of about $51.3 million. BBC News reported $50.6 million. At $57.5 million, the stone sold for about $3.9 million per carat.

The sale set a world auction record for any jewel. The previous record holder was the 12.03-carat Blue Moon, a Fancy Vivid blue that sold in November 2015 for about $48.4 million. The buyer's name was not released. A jewelry specialist said years later that the same buyer still owned the stone.

A record that lasted eleven months

The Oppenheimer Blue was the most expensive jewel ever sold at auction until April 2017, when the 59.60-carat CTF Pink Star sold in Hong Kong for $71.2 million. It never held the per-carat record, because the Blue Moon's price, a little over $4 million per carat, was higher. At least one trade blog has nevertheless described the Oppenheimer Blue's $3.9 million per carat as the earlier benchmark.

It sold during a run of high prices for blue diamonds. The 9.51-carat Mellon Blue sold in 2014 for $32.6 million, the first diamond to bring more than $3 million per carat, and the Blue Moon followed in 2015. Earlier named blues sold by the same auction house include the Wittelsbach, which brought $24.3 million in 2008, and the 13.22-carat Winston Blue, which brought $23.8 million in 2014.

Because the buyer has never been named, the stone's public record ends with the 2016 sale. What is known comes from that sale, its GIA paperwork and its name.

The numbers

Carat weight

14.62 carats

Color / clarity

Fancy Vivid Blue, natural color / VVS1

Origin mine

Believed to be the Cullinan (Premier) mine, South Africa; not confirmed in sale records

Cutter

Not documented in the sources consulted

Cut

Rectangular step cut (emerald cut)

Grading report

GIA 10387774, May 14, 2015

Timeline

1. 1934

   Philip Oppenheimer joins the family diamond business, sorting and valuing rough diamonds in London and Antwerp.

2. 1956

   Oppenheimer joins the board of De Beers.

3. 1970

   Oppenheimer is knighted.

4. 1975

   Sir Philip becomes chairman of the De Beers Diamond Trading Company.

5. Oct 8, 1995

   Sir Philip Oppenheimer dies in London. The blue diamond he chose for himself later carries his name.

6. Oct 14, 2014

   The diamond goes on view in New York in the exhibition 'The Power of Style: Verdura at 75,' which runs through December 23, 2014.

7. May 14, 2015

   GIA issues report 10387774, grading the stone Fancy Vivid Blue, natural color, VVS1 clarity.

8. May 16, 2016

   The stone is presented to the public as the largest Vivid Blue ever to come to auction.

9. May 18, 2016

   It sells at auction in Geneva for CHF 56,837,000 with fees (about $57.5 million) after 20 minutes of bidding between two phone bidders. The price is a world auction record for any jewel.

10. Apr 4, 2017

    The 59.60-carat CTF Pink Star sells for $71.2 million in Hong Kong. The Oppenheimer Blue is no longer the most expensive jewel ever sold at auction.

The world in 2016

• May 8, 2016

  A 90 percent share in an 812.77-carat rough diamond from Botswana sells for more than $63 million, a record price for a rough diamond.

• May 14, 2016

  Ukraine's Jamala wins the Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm with '1944.'

• May 17, 2016

  The day before the Oppenheimer Blue sale, the 15.38-carat Fancy Vivid pink Unique Pink sells in Geneva for $31.6 million.

• May 19, 2016

  EgyptAir Flight 804 crashes into the Mediterranean on its way from Paris to Cairo, killing all 66 people aboard.

• May 20, 2016

  Tsai Ing-wen is sworn in as Taiwan's first female president.

• May 2016

  The 1,109-carat Lesedi La Rona, the second-largest rough diamond ever found, is set for auction in London on June 29.

• Jun 23, 2016

  The United Kingdom votes in a referendum to leave the European Union.

• Nov 8, 2016

  Donald Trump is elected the 45th president of the United States.

Price record

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 Oppenheimer Blue is number 3 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 (3 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• It sold with a spare setting: the lot included its original 'Eight Blades' ring mounting, signed by the New York jeweler Verdura.
• A jewelry specialist who first saw it at a Verdura exhibition in New York said he thought it was 'the most beautiful blue diamond I've ever seen.'
• About 0.02 percent of mined diamonds are naturally blue, and only about 10 percent of blue diamonds weigh more than one carat.
• Its world record for a jewel at auction lasted less than eleven months.
• At about $3.9 million per carat, it still did not take the per-carat record, which stayed with the 12.03-carat Blue Moon.
• Sir Philip Oppenheimer, the man it is named for, also bred racehorses. His filly On the House won the 1,000 Guineas in 1982.