Rare Blue Diamond Fetches Record $9.6 Million

A stunning blue diamond broke a world record, fetching a price of 6.2 million British pounds (about $9.6 million), or about $1.8 million per carat, according to auctioneer Bonhams.

The diamond is a brilliant blue and is set in a ring made by Italian jeweler Bulgari around 1965. The high price likely comes from the diamond's unusual color as well as its posh setting: Bulgari is a company beloved by the Hollywood glitterati, and blue diamonds are rarely up for sale. This particular blue diamond also happens to be a large chunk of ice at 5.3 carets.

The mid-century cushion-shaped fancy deep-blue diamond is surrounded by an additional two-carats of brilliant-cut and baguette-cut white diamonds. Fancy coloured diamonds exhibit an intense colour and are exceptionally rare, as are blue diamonds (one of the rarest diamonds on the planet).

The diamond is a "fancy deep-blue" stone, terminology that describes its intensity of color. The blue sheen comes from boron atoms intermixed with the carbon that makes up the diamond's structure. According to Bonhams, less than 1 percent of all diamonds mined are blue diamonds.

More info: Bonhams