The Oppenheimer Blue: A De Beers Legacy Stone's Record Sale

In May 2016, a 14.62-carat emerald-cut diamond sold at Christie's Geneva for approximately $57.5 million, setting a new world record for the per-carat auction price of any gemstone. The stone's name traces back to one of the most influential families in twentieth-century diamond history.

A Stone Named for a De Beers Chairman

The diamond takes its name from Sir Philip Oppenheimer, a former chairman of the De Beers Diamond Syndicate and a member of the family that controlled De Beers for much of the twentieth century. GIA graded the rectangular, step-cut stone Fancy Vivid Blue, the top intensity grade for blue diamonds and the rarest color designation the laboratory assigns.

Twenty-Five Minutes of Bidding

At the Christie's Geneva Magnificent Jewels sale, bidding for the Oppenheimer Blue lasted more than twenty-five minutes, an unusually long contest for a single lot, reflecting how few Fancy Vivid Blue diamonds of this size ever reach the open market. The final price made it the most expensive jewel ever sold at auction at the time, a record it held for eleven months until the Pink Star's April 2017 sale surpassed it.

Why Vivid Blue Commands This Premium

Natural blue diamonds owe their color to trace boron impurities captured during formation deep in the Earth's mantle, a combination of geological conditions rare enough that blue remains, carat for carat, one of the most valuable of all fancy colors. Large, high-clarity stones in Fancy Vivid Blue rarely appear even at the wholesale level, which is why auction results like the Oppenheimer Blue function as the market's clearest available benchmark. See current blue diamond availability in our blue diamond guide.