A fancy vivid blue, internally flawless, cushion-shaped diamond, weighing 7.03 carats, sold at the Sotheby’s Geneva auction on 12 May, was named as ‘Star of Josephine’, by its buyer Mr. Joseph Lau Luen-Hung. The diamond was bought for US$9.48 million, creating a world record of price per carat for any gemstone at auction and world record price for a fancy vivid blue diamond at auction.

The exceptional blue diamond was cut from a 26.58 carat rough discovered in 2008 at Petra Diamonds’ Cullinan diamond mine. It ranks amongst the most important diamonds ever to be offered for sale by Sotheby’s.