The 12.03-carat 'Blue Moon' diamond, set in a ring, was said to be among the largest known fancy vivid blue diamonds and was the showpiece gem at the Sotheby's jewelry auction yesterday. A packed room broke into applause after the hammer came down at a price of 43.2 million Swiss francs, excluding fees within the pre-auction estimate range of about 34 to 54 million francs.
On its Twitter account, Sotheby's said the jewel was purchased by a Hong Kong private collector and was promptly renamed 'The Blue Moon of Josephine' a similar name to one given to a pink diamond ring that sold for USD 28.5 million at Christie's in Geneva a day earlier: 'Sweet Josephine.'
"Yes, the two diamonds are bought by Joseph Lau," said a spokeswoman, who hung up without identifying herself. At a Sotheby's Geneva auction In 2009, Lau bought another blue diamond, paying a then-record USD 9.5 million for the 7.03 carat "Star of Josephine". The gem was reportedly named after his 7-year-old daughter, the youngest of his five children.
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Lau is a property developer with a fortune estimated by Forbes at USD 9.8 billion. Last year he was convicted in a Macau court on corruption charges and sentenced to more than five years in prison. But Lau, who didn't attend the trial, has remained free by avoiding travel to the former Portuguese colony, which doesn't have an extradition treaty with nearby Hong Kong. Both cities are specially administered Chinese regions.
The polished blue gem was cut from a 29.6-carat diamond discovered last year in South Africa's Cullinan mine, which also yielded the 530-carat Star of Africa blue diamond that is part of the British crown jewels, and the Smithsonian Institution's "Blue Heart" discovered in 1908.