GENEVA -- A vivid blue, 3.7-carat diamond ring has sold for nearly $5 million at auction in Switzerland, becoming the priciest gemstone per carat ever.
Sotheby's says the oval-shaped stone -- about the size of a pistachio shell -- fetched a price of $1.33 million per carat.
That just edged 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 jeweller Laurence Graff, 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.
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 Associated Press
PREVIOUS
