Colored Diamonds Continue Fetching Pretty Pennies at Auction, Breaking Records

It’s a good time for colored gems to be hitting the auction block, writes the Financial Times, which enumerates a few diamonds that have returned hefty sums recently. The article cites the De Beers Millennium blue diamond, which this week sold for $31.8 million – the highest price recorded for a jewel at auction in Asia. Last year, the Blue Moon of Josephine sold for $48.5 million, which stands as the record for any diamond or gemstone.

“Colored diamonds have long been sought after,” Francois Graff, CEO of Graff Diamonds, told FT. “The market began to open up in the 1980s, and in the past five to 10 years that growth has accelerated as more people have become aware of their extreme rarity and appreciative of their unique beauty.”

Read more at the Financial Times