In gem of a sale, blue diamond fetches $57.5 million

"The Oppenheimer Blue" -- world's largest diamond -- creates history smashing the previous auction records.

A Christie's employee poses with the 14.62-carat Oppenheimer Blue diamond during a preview in Geneva, Switzerland on May 12, 2016.The jewel became the most expensive one ever auctioned after it fetched a whopping $ 57.5 million, smashing the previous auction records.

A 14.62-carat blue diamond on Thursday became the world’s most expensive jewel ever auctioned after it fetched a whopping USD 57.5 million, smashing the previous auction records.

The world’s largest blue diamond known as “The Oppenheimer Blue” sold to a private collector at Christie’s here. The buyer's identity was not disclosed.

Pre-sale estimate: $38-45 million

Mounted on a platinum ring and flanked on either side by a trapeze-shaped diamond, the rare rectangular-cut Fancy Vivid stone had a pre-sale estimate of $38-45 million.

The diamond was named in honour of its previous owner Philip Oppenheimer, a diamond dealer whose family owns the influential diamond company De Beers, CNN reported.

Eclipses ‘Blue Moon of Josephine’

The Oppenheimer steals the title of world’s most expensive diamond from the 12.03-carat “Blue Moon of Josephine,” which held the previous record at $48.4 million.

The diamond was bought by Chinese property billionaire Joseph Lau in November for his 7-year-old daughter.

Call them rarest of rare

Blue diamonds are exceptionally rare, comprising only around 0.0001 per cent of the world’s diamonds, according to Christie’s. Of this tiny fraction, only about one per cent are classified as Fancy Vivid.

Thursday’s record-breaking sale comes a day after the 15.38 carat ‘Unique Pink’ was sold for $31.6 million at a Sotheby’s auction in Geneva — the highest price ever paid for a pink diamond of that category.