Diamonds are forever… and at $55m they ought to be

Huge blue and pink diamonds, the star attractions at major jewel auctions in Geneva in the coming days, are expected to fetch tens of millions of dollar - and possibly set new world records. The anticipated sales prices for the two stones are part of a trend that has seen the market for coloured diamonds explode, with values more than doubling over the last two decades. The Sotheby’s “fancy vivid” blue diamond, which goes under the hammer on Wednesday, has been tipped as a possible world record beater, with the auction house listing its projected sale price at between $35 million-$55 million.

If you look at diamond prices, a diamond that was making $200,000 a carat is now making £2 million a carat. That hasn’t happened in other asset class, or any other investment.

Rahul Kadakia, at Christie’s

Sotheby’s is aiming to beat its own record, set in November 2010 in Geneva, when a 24.78 carat pink diamond sold for $46 million. Sotheby’s rival Christie’s puts its prized jewel up for sale on Tuesday at the plush Four Seasons des Bergues hotel. “The biggest reason is the scarcity of these coloured diamonds,” explained Rahul Kadakia, the International Head of Jewellery at Christie’s. He said that 25 or 30 years ago, extraordinary coloured gemstones often earned strong prices at auction, “but they weren’t quite making the prices they have been achieving in recent years”.

Europe diamonds