The world largest Fancy Vivid Blue diamond in auction history, named “The De Beers Blue”, weighting 15.10 carat, was sold at Sotheby’s auction in Hong Kong for HK$ 451m (US$ 57.47m) on 27 April 2022. The hammered price came very close to the current record holder, The Oppenheimer Blue (14.62cts Fancy Vivid Blue Diamond) that fetched US$57.54m in 2016, as the most expensive blue diamond ever sold at auction.

The rough of this extraordinary stone was discovered at the Cullinan Mine, the world renown mine in South Africa in 2021. This mine is one of the very few sources in the world for rare blue diamonds. This stone isn’t just the largest blue diamond ever appear in the auction, it is also the largest internal flawless step cut vivid blue diamond that the GIA has ever graded. It is a Type IIb diamond, which represents the presence of boron element as well as less than 0.5% of all natural diamonds.