A new record price per carat for a Fancy Intense Blue diamond was reached during Christie’s New York Magnificent Jewels last Thursday, yet the auction house failed to report it. Not only that – no major news media picked on it either! This is after just a couple of weeks ago when infamous billionaire Joseph Lau broke the record for a price per carat paid for a blue diamond at auction. Breaking the record for Fancy Intense Blue diamonds just after the blue moon diamond record was broken? This is utterly astounding. Normally all online news media race each other to report on any new records at auctions to get more traffic on popular news, yet no one reported this one. Did they miss it?

Therefore allow me to be the first to report, a full 3 days after its occurrence, that a 1.74 carat Fancy Intense Blue VVS1 round brilliant diamond (potentially Internally Flawless), one that is a rare type IIb diamond, has broken a record for the highest per carat price ever paid for a Fancy Intense Blue diamond. It sold for a total $1,925,000 or just over $1.106 million per carat. The previous record was held by a 7.64 carat Fancy Intense Blue diamond sold back on May 11, 2010 for $1.051 million per carat. (The highest price per carat ever paid for any blue diamond, which covers all color intensities, is still held by Joseph Lau’s blue diamond from November).

The 1.74 carat Fancy Intense Blue VVS1 round brilliant diamond         Image credit: Christie’s

The 7.64 carat Fancy Intense Blue diamond         Image credit: Sotheby’s

Our research about fancy color diamonds for the investment world is broken down by color, intensity and size in order to analyze price trends and progression. Obviously we cannot compare a 2 carat diamond’s price level to that of a 10 carat size diamond. However, what many investment and financial professionals may not fully understand is htat this logic also applies to color intensity difference between Fancy Intense and Fancy Vivid, which are quite different and rank quite differently. Rarity dictates value, the most basic premise of supply and demand. Our research concentrates predominantly on blue and pink diamonds (although we also report results for red, orange and green diamonds which are important as well) because they are the 2 of the rarest colors and because they are in such extraordinarily high demand. We further break down our research into Fancy Intense and Fancy Vivid color intensities, as well as into size categories, in order to demonstrate diamond price trends specifically for those diamonds.

It is simply amazing that when this diamond sold at auction, it because the highest price per carat ever paid for a Fancy Intense Blue diamond (although Fancy Vivid, which is a highest intensity grade, still holds the title for highest price per carat ever paid for a blue diamond). Let’s zoom in on the statistics for blue diamonds, and focus on Fancy Intense Blue. For Fancy Intense Blue diamonds, we broke down the size categories into the 1-3 carat size, 3-5 carat size, 5-10 carat size, and 10+ carat size. Anything over 10 carats are grouped into the same category, as discovering any diamond with this color intensity in such a large size is extremely rare and almost impossible.

Performance of blue diamond size groups in % over the past 20 years

Now let’s zoom in further, now to the 1-3 carat size range. In the 1-3 carat size category, this 1.74 carat round brilliant has broken a record that has been held for only a short period of time. The previous record was for a 2.11 carat Fancy Intense Blue VVS1 diamond, (very similar to our 1.74 carat diamond) and it was sold on October 7, 2015 during Sotheby’s Hong Kong auction for $900k per carat.

The 2.11 carat Fancy Intense Blue VVS1 diamond     Image credit: Sotheby’s

In the 3-5 carat size category, the record is held by a 3.16 carat Fancy Intense Blue diamond, which was sold during Sotheby’s Geneva auction back on November 11, 2014. It sold for $1.011 million per carat.

3.16 carat Fancy Intense Blue diamond                Image credit: Sotheby’s

In the 5-10 carat size category, the record is held by the 7.64 carat Fancy Intense Blue diamond mentioned above that was sold on May 11, 2010.

The 7.64 carat Fancy Intense Blue diamond        Image credit: Sotheby’s

In the 10+ carat size category there has been only 1 diamond sold. It is a 13.39 carat Fancy Intense Blue VS diamond. It was sold on May 14, 2008 for a mere $656k per carat, so it would not be fair to discuss it too much as prices soared. Just imagine what price it would earn if it was sold at auction today (it could very well be that its owner is doing just that and waiting for demand to get even stronger before selling it at auction, in order to gain an extraordinary high price for it.

The 13.39 carat Fancy Intense Blue VS diamond              Image credit: Christie’s

I do feel quite strongly that a new Fancy Intense Blue diamond above 10 carats, will most likely hit the auction block sooner than we think. In fact, I have a feeling it will be a rare one that will shock the market. What do you think? Let us know what you think or know in the comments below!

Despite a weak market for the overall diamond industry, and weak prices which will follow into 2016, we continue to see not only strong but continuously soaring prices for those true one-of-a-kind and rare diamonds on the market. Smart investors want top quality diamonds, and are willing to pay top prices to have that unique piece.

See you in 2016…