Un superbe diamant bleu «Fancy Vivid Blue», « Internally Flawless », de taille ovale, pesant 10,10 carats, le plus grand diamant bleu de taille ovale jamais proposé aux enchères. Est. 235 – 280 millions HK$ (30 – 35 millions US$). Sold for HK$248,280,000 ($32,013,223) Photo: Sotheby's

Hong Kong, 11 mars 2016 – Sotheby’s Hong Kong a l’honneur de présenter le « De Beers Millennium Jewel 4 », un superbe diamantbleu « Vivid Blue », « Internally Flawless » de taille ovale pesant 10,10 carats – le plus grand diamant bleu de taille ovale jamais proposé aux enchères (Est. 235 – 280 millions HK$ / 30 – 35 millions US$). La pierre sera proposée lors de la vente de printemps de Haute Joaillerie (Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite) le 5 avril 2016. Provenant d’une collection privée asiatique, le De Beers Millennium Jewel 4 est la seule pierre de taille ovale parmi les douze diamants rares – onze diamants bleus et un diamant blanc – qui forment la célèbre collection de renommée mondiale : le De Beers Millennium Jewels Collection, dévoilée par De Beers en 2000 pour marquer le début du nouveau millénaire. Chacun de ces douze diamants se démarque par une incomparable intensité et une saturation de la couleur ainsi qu’une brillance exceptionnelles.

Afin de célébrer le millénaire, De Beers, avec The Steinmetz Group, a présenté en 2000 une exceptionnelle collection de diamants rares et importants, les De Beers Millennium Jewels. Une exposition spéciale a été montée dans la célèbre  Millennium Dome à Londres. Constituée au cours de plusieurs décennies, la collection rassemblait un magnifique diamant blanc, le Millennium Star, ainsi que onze diamants bleus de tailles et de formes différentes, pesant en tout 118 carats, chacun taillé et poli à la perfection. Neuf des onze diamants bleus possèdent, selon l’Institut Gémmologique d’Amérique (GIA) la couleur « Fancy Vivid », la plus recherchée pour les diamants. Les deux autres sont certifiés de couleur « Fancy Intense ». Chacune des pierres provient de la mine Cullinan en Afrique du Sud, et chacune est gravée d’un chiffre unique. Depuis la présentation de la collection en 2000, seule une des pierres a été présentée à la vente : le De Beers Millennium Jewel 11, un diamant « Fancy Vivid Blue » et « Internally Flawless » en forme de cœur, pesant 5,16 carats, a été vendu chez Sotheby’s à Hong Kong en avril 2010. 

“Blue diamonds of any intensity of colour are amongst the rarest of all gems. Highly saturated blue diamonds over ten carats combined with an Internally Flawless clarity grade are extremely rare. There have been fewer and fewer new rough diamonds discovered over the last decade that produce this colour. Most of the recent diamonds offered for sale in this category are coming from private collections—not diamond mines.”
- Tom Moses, Executive Vice President and Chief Research and Laboratory Officer, GIA

Lot 1843. ‘De Beers Millennium Jewel 4,’ Superb and rare 10,10 carats fancy vivid blue diamond and diamond ring. Sold for HK$248,280,000 ($32,013,223). Photo Sotheby's

Hong Kong, 11 March 2016. Sotheby’s Hong Kong is honoured to present the ‘De Beers Millennium Jewel 4’, a rare and superb Oval Internally Flawless Fancy Vivid Blue Diamond weighing 10.10 carats – the largest oval fancy vivid blue diamond ever to appear at auction (Est. HK$235 – 280 million / US$30 – 35 million*), at the Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite Spring Sale on 5 April 2016. Offered for sale from an Asian private collection, ‘De Beers Millennium Jewel 4’ is the only oval-shaped stone among the twelve rare diamonds - eleven blue and one colourless – that form the world-renowned De Beers Millennium Jewels collection unveiled by De Beers in 2000 in celebration of the millennium. Each of the eleven blue diamonds in the collection boasts a combination of colour intensity, even saturation and brilliance that are rivalled by few other stones.

The ‘De Beers Millennium Jewel 4’ will be exhibited in New York, London (15 March) and Geneva (16 March) on an international itinerary, and in Singapore (13 – 14 March), Taipei (19 – 20 March) and Hong Kong (1 – 4 April) in Asia before going under the hammer on 5 April at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. 

QUEK Chin Yeow, Deputy Chairman, Asia, and Chairman International Jewellery, Asia, said, “Over the years Sotheby’s has had the honour to bring to the market many important coloured diamonds, including the Blue Moon of Josephine that set the world auction record for any diamond last November. The market for coloured diamonds has gone from strength to strength and this spring we are thrilled to present the ‘De Beers Millennium Jewel 4’, the largest oval fancy vivid blue diamond ever to appear at auction. Fifteen years ago I had the great opportunity of seeing this magnificent stone for the first time and it is an absolute delight now to have it in one’s hand, to admire it again and to offer it for auction in Asia. This beautiful blue stone combining Nature’s rare beauty, superlative colour, unusual shape and illustrious provenance offers yet another wonderful collecting opportunity for connoisseurs worldwide.”

Photo courtesy of De Beers / Steinmetz

“To be able to unveil not only one diamond but a collection of such rarity that most of us will not see its like again is, I think, the only adequate way to mark the passage of 2000 years of man’s history.”
- Harry Oppenheimer, Former Chairman of De Beers, on the “De Beers Millennium Jewels” -

De Beers Millennium Jewels: A Once-in-a-Millennium Experience
To celebrate the millennium in 2000, De Beers, together with The Steinmetz Group, showcased an exceptional collection of rare and valuable diamonds, namely the ‘De Beers Millennium Jewels’, in a specially designed exhibit at London’s Millennium Dome. Assembled over decades, the collection consisted of the 203.04-carat colourless diamond ‘Millennium Star’ and eleven phenomenal blue diamonds (pictured above) of various shapes and sizes, totalling 118 carats, all expertly cut and polished. Nine out of the eleven blue diamonds have been graded by the GIA as of Fancy Vivid colour, the highest possible colour grading for coloured diamonds, and two of Fancy Intense colour. All of them originate from the Cullinan Mine in South Africa and each was specially inscribed with a De Beers Millennium number using a proprietary branding technique. Since their initial appearance at the Millennium Exhibition in 2000, only one of these diamonds have ever come into the open market, when Sotheby’s Hong Kong sold the ‘De Beers Millennium Jewel 11’, a 5.16-carat Internally Flawless Pear-shaped Fancy Vivid Blue Diamond, in April 2010.