Blue diamond becomes priciest gem

GENEVA, Switzerland (AP) -- A vivid blue 3.7-carat diamond ring sold for just under $5 million (euro 3.2 million) at auction becoming the priciest gemstone per carat ever, Sotheby's said Friday.

The oval-shaped stone -- about the size of a pistachio shell -- fetched a price of $1.33 million per carat, edging out a similar blue diamond that sold last year in Hong Kong for $1.32 million per carat.

The auction house identified the buyer as London jeweler Laurence Graff, who is known in the industry as the "King of Diamonds."

In total, 423 lots sold for $57.1 million Thursday night at Geneva's plush Beau Rivage hotel.

Jewels of "noble provenance" or those defined as "period pieces" performed particularly well, said David Bennett, Sotheby's chairman of jewelry for Europe and the Middle East.

A 64-piece collection of jewels belonging to Lily Marinho, a French beauty queen who married two of Brazil's most powerful men, sold for $11 million -- easily clearing high-end estimates of $8.5 million.

The top piece from the collection was a pair of pear-shaped diamond drops that sold to an unnamed buyer for $2.9 million.

Marinho, 87, was married to Brazilian millionaire Horacio de Carvalho and then Roberto Marinho, who died five years ago after building the Globo media empire.

On Wednesday evening, rival auctioneers Christie's nearly matched the Sotheby's jewels sale, fetching $57 million in 265 lots.

The star of the show was a 13.4-carat "fancy intense blue" diamond that sold for $8.9 million. Christie's said that was a record for a colored diamond.

Among the five other stones that topped $2 million was an emerald, diamond and natural pearl necklace purchased for over $5.6 million, well over the high-end estimate of $3.1 million.

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