Rare $100M Diamond Collection Dazzles at Sotheby’s Abu Dhabi
Blue diamonds are among the world’s rarest gems, with less than 0.1% of all diamonds displaying any blue color. Sotheby’s has now shown a stunning $100 million diamond collection in Abu Dhabi – the auction house’s first public exhibition in the UAE since 2009. This breathtaking showcase features exceptional diamonds totaling over 700 carats and includes the Mediterranean Blue, a spectacular 10.03-carat Fancy Vivid Blue diamond worth $20 million.
The collection’s centerpiece includes the world’s largest flawless diamond and the second-largest red diamond that ever spread across the globe. The Desert Rose, a magnificent 31.68-carat Fancy Vivid Orangy Pink diamond, stands alongside the Golden Canary Necklace that features a 303.10-carat Fancy Deep Brownish Yellow diamond. Sotheby’s head of jewels, Quig Bruning, puts this collection’s rarity into perspective – all known blue diamonds over 10 carats could fit in a pocket.
Sotheby’s Unveils Rare Blue Diamond Worth $20 Million in Abu Dhabi
Image Source: Irish Examiner
The Mediterranean Blue, a spectacular 10.03-carat cushion-shaped modified brilliant-cut fancy vivid blue diamond, made its global debut April 8 at the Bassam Freiha Art Foundation in Abu Dhabi. This extraordinary gem’s value stands at approximately AED 73.44 million, making it one of the rarest diamond specimens on earth. Sotheby’s chose this moment to return to the UAE capital with its first public showing in over 15 years.
This diamond’s exceptional rarity comes from its classification as a Type IIb diamond – a category that makes up less than 0.5% of all diamonds. Blue diamonds are even more scarce, representing less than 0.02% of all natural mined diamonds. The Mediterranean Blue’s vivid blue color, which holds the highest possible color grading, comes from trace amounts of boron in its crystal structure that formed deep within the Earth.
“Any vivid blue diamond is a discovery worth celebrating, but one of this size and depth of color is a rare event,” said Quig Bruning, Sotheby’s Head of Jewelry for the Americas & EMEA. The upcoming auction at Sotheby’s Geneva sale on May 13 will likely draw worldwide attention.
Craftsmen shaped the Mediterranean Blue from a 31.94-carat rough diamond that emerged from South Africa’s prominent Cullinan mine in 2023. The process needed a year of planning and six months of precise cutting to achieve its final form. Under cross-polarized light, the stone shows a type of strain known as cross-hatched or “tatami” strain – a common trait in type IIb diamonds.
The Abu Dhabi exhibition welcomes visitors until April 10. The diamond will then continue to Taipei, Hong Kong, and New York before its Geneva auction. GIA report no. 2233436003 accompanies this extraordinary gem, confirming its Fancy Vivid Blue color, Natural Color classification, and VS2 Clarity grade.
“The Gulf is, in my mind, the core of where the luxury market is headed,” Bruning noted, emphasizing the strategic importance of revealing such a remarkable stone in Abu Dhabi.
The Desert Rose Captivates Visitors with Vibrant Pink Hues
Image Source: Sothebys.com
The Desert Rose, a spectacular 31.68-carat pear-shaped Fancy Vivid Orangy Pink diamond with VVS1 clarity, stands as a centerpiece at Sotheby’s historic Abu Dhabi exhibition. This remarkable gem has captured visitors’ attention with its mesmerizing hue and holds the distinction of being the world’s largest vivid orangey pink diamond.
Nature rarely produces pink diamonds. These gems make up just 0.03% of the world’s annual diamond production. The Desert Rose’s vibrant orangy-pink color makes it even more valuable in the market. A pink diamond’s value can be 10 to 100 times higher than an equivalent white diamond. High-quality specimens with intense shades can sell for up to AED 2,570,358 per carat.
The Desert Rose gets its striking color from atomic irregularities, not chemical impurities. Scientists call this “natural plastic deformation” – a process where carbon atoms shift after the diamond crystallizes. Large stones with this formation are extremely rare.
Pink diamonds became even scarcer after Australia’s Argyle Mine closed in 2020. This mine once supplied 90% of the world’s pink diamonds. The numbers tell the story – pink diamonds make up less than 5% of all colored diamonds, which makes The Desert Rose truly special.
This gem’s color puts it at the top tier of pink diamond classification. Its size is another remarkable feature since most pink diamonds are smaller than one carat. The finest specimens like this usually appear only at prestigious auctions.
The Desert Rose, with its unique orangy undertone, joins other legendary pink diamonds in auction history. Notable sales include the Pink Star, which brought in AED 304.77 million in 2013. The Williamson Pink Star set a record price per carat at over AED 18.73 million.
Golden Canary Necklace Breaks Records with 303-Carat Diamond
Image Source: Forbes
The Golden Canary necklace stands as the centerpiece of this historic exhibition. Its stunning 303.10-carat fancy deep brownish-yellow diamond makes it the largest internally flawless diamond that the Gemological Institute of America has ever certified. The name “Golden Canary” perfectly captures its unique golden hue, even though experts officially certified it as “fancy deep brownish yellow”.
This extraordinary gem’s story begins with an amazing discovery. A young girl found an 890-carat rough diamond while playing in her uncle’s backyard near an abandoned mining site in what we now call the Democratic Republic of Congo. This incredible discovery ranks as the fourth largest rough diamond anyone has recorded.
The stone, which people knew as the “Incomparable Diamond,” started at 407.48 carats in a shield-shaped cut. Its owners took a bold step to recut the diamond. They chose to trade some of its weight to boost its color depth and brilliance. This transformation needed advanced technology and computer modeling to create its current pear-shaped modified brilliant cut.
The diamond’s exceptional clarity puts it in an elite group. Flawless and internally flawless diamonds make up nowhere near 0.5% of all diamonds. Internally flawless stones might show tiny surface marks under high magnification, but they remain completely free of internal inclusions.
The Golden Canary’s value reached AED 55.08 million, yet Sotheby’s offered it without reserve at their Magnificent Jewels auction in December 2022. The final price hit AED 45.53 million, making it the third most valuable yellow diamond sold at auction.
This remarkable stone joins other extraordinary diamonds in the Abu Dhabi exhibition. Sotheby’s experts call it “a once-in-a-career moment” as several century stones (diamonds over 100 carats) come together. All the same, the Golden Canary’s value comes from its exceptional color rather than its cut or proportions, unlike colorless diamonds.
The Sotheby’s Abu Dhabi exhibition proves to be evidence of nature’s rarest geological wonders. The Mediterranean Blue diamond stands out at $20 million and represents less than 0.02% of all natural mined diamonds. The Desert Rose captivates with its orangy-pink hue that shows the growing lack of pink diamonds since the Argyle Mine closed. On top of that, the Golden Canary Necklace features the largest internally flawless diamond that experts ever certified, and shows what modern cutting techniques can achieve.
These geological rarities, expert craftsmanship, and record-breaking specimens meet in this historic collection. Abu Dhabi’s rising importance in the luxury market shines through the exhibition’s success, giving visitors a rare look at earth’s most extraordinary natural treasures.
