A VALUABLE blue diamond will appear at the Met Gala next week, before going to auction for an estimated $25 million.
Created in 1970, the diamond has stayed in the same European collection ever since. This is the first time that it will be offered for sale.
The Bulgari Laguna Blu will have its global premiere at the Met Gala on May 1st, before being exhibited and sold at Sotheby’s Geneva Luxury Week.
The presentation of the jewel completes Sotheby’s trilogy of unique coloured gemstones, following the announcements of the Eternal Pink diamond and Estrella de FURA ruby.
Both are expected to sell for over $30 and $35 million respectively.
Olivier Wagner, Head of Jewellery at Sotheby’s Geneva, said: “The Bulgari Laguna Blu is an extraordinary gem in every way.
“At 11.16 carat, this unmodified pear-shaped blue diamond has received the highest grade for a blue diamond by the Gemological Institute of America acknowledging its mesmerising colour and hue.
“[It] was selected by Bulgari, the prestigious Roman Jewellery Maison, over fifty years ago, to create a ring for a discerning private collector who has kept it ever since.
“The Bulgari Laguna Blu diamond is bound to become the object of any collector’s dream.
“We are delighted that it will be first premiered at the always highly anticipated Met Gala’s red carpet.”
Blue diamonds of any kind and any size are among the rarest coloured diamonds.
An accident of nature, they are produced by the presence of the trace element boron within the diamond’s carbon structure during its formation deep in the earth’s core.
Fewer than ten diamonds which qualify as Fancy Vivid – the brightest hue a diamond can display – over 10 carats have come to auction anywhere in the world in recent decades.
The Bulgari Laguna Blu was initially mounted as a ring with a pear-shaped stone for a commission by the original owner – the third largest pear-shaped Fancy Vivid blue diamond ever to come to auction.
By the mid-1950’s Bulgari had started to introduce more daring designs which borrowed and celebrated Roman artistic and architectural heritage.
This trend for boldness in colour associations and sculptural jewellery was unleashed across the 1970s and beyond.
Because of this, Bulgari was popular in Hollywood glamour in the 70s, with stars such as Elizabeth Taylor and Ingrid Bergman having a fondness for their jewellery.
The Bulgari Laguna Blu has the rare quality of being an unmodified stone.
In the fifty years since the Laguna Blu was facetted, diamond-cutting technology has progressed to enhance the colour of diamonds even further.
So the diamond may appear even brighter in the future.
