A rare blue diamond showcased earlier in Abu Dhabi has sold for $21.5 million (Dh77 million) at a Sotheby's auction in Geneva.
The auction kicked off at $10.8 million, quickly going up to the final sale price as a bidding war unfolded. It was estimated that the Mediterranean Blue diamond would fetch $20 million.
The fancy vivid blue stone weighs 10.3 carats and has VS2 clarity. It is considered one of the most important blue diamonds discovered.
It was part of an exhibition of rare and remarkable gemstones at the Bassam Freiha Art Foundation in Abu Dhabi’s Saadiyat Island last month. Gemstones worth a total of more than $100 million were on display at Beyond: The World’s Rarest Diamond.
Paul Redmayne, Sotheby’s senior jewellery specialist for the Middle East, described the Mediterranean Blue as “one of the most sought-after. The clarity, the provenance, the size, and the fact it’s a cushion cut makes it super-desirable,” he said at the opening of the exhibition in April.
Calling the scale of precious gemstones being exhibited “mind-boggling”, he said the diamonds had never all been in the same room before.
“You’ve got the century stones, 100-carat-plus white diamonds, the 100-carat-plus brown-orange, the 40-carat light pink, the 31-carat vivid orangey pink, the 303-carat Golden Canary and the second-largest red diamond in the world,” he said.
The 5.05-carat red diamond, being displayed in public for the first time, was another highlight of the exhibition.
Red diamonds are so rare that even legendary jeweller Harry Winston never saw one during his lifetime, Redmayne said, making the ownership of emerald-cut fancy brown-red diamond a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
What makes this particular stone exceptional is how it “ticks all the boxes”, Redmayne said. Mined in 2023 from the famed Cullinan mine in South Africa, known for producing two stones part of the British Crown Jewel diamonds, the rough stone was studied for a full year before cutting, to maximise its colour.
Other extraordinary stones in the exhibition included the Desert Rose, a 31.68-carat pear-shaped fancy vivid orange Pink diamond of VVS1 clarity; the Golden Canary necklace, set with a 303.10-carat pear-shaped fancy deep brownish-yellow diamond that is internally flawless, and the Ultimate Emerald Cut, a 100.20-carat emerald-cut diamond ring of D colour and internally flawless clarity.
There was also a 102.60-carat round diamond, D colour and VVS1 clarity; a 40.29-carat radiant-cut fancy light pink diamond and diamond ring of VS2 clarity; and a Cartier necklace in 18k white gold, featuring a 100.26-carat pear-shaped fancy deep brown-orange diamond of I1 clarity.
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
Company profile
Name: Steppi
Founders: Joe Franklin and Milos Savic
Launched: February 2020
Size: 10,000 users by the end of July and a goal of 200,000 users by the end of the year
Employees: Five
Based: Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai
Financing stage: Two seed rounds – the first sourced from angel investors and the founders' personal savings
Second round raised Dh720,000 from silent investors in June this year
Dates for the diary
To mark Bodytree’s 10th anniversary, the coming season will be filled with celebratory activities:
- September 21 Anyone interested in becoming a certified yoga instructor can sign up for a 250-hour course in Yoga Teacher Training with Jacquelene Sadek. It begins on September 21 and will take place over the course of six weekends.
- October 18 to 21 International yoga instructor, Yogi Nora, will be visiting Bodytree and offering classes.
- October 26 to November 4 International pilates instructor Courtney Miller will be on hand at the studio, offering classes.
- November 9 Bodytree is hosting a party to celebrate turning 10, and everyone is invited. Expect a day full of free classes on the grounds of the studio.
- December 11 Yogeswari, an advanced certified Jivamukti teacher, will be visiting the studio.
- February 2, 2018 Bodytree will host its 4th annual yoga market.
UK’s AI plan
- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
- £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
- £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
- £250m to train new AI models
Which honey takes your fancy?
Al Ghaf Honey
The Al Ghaf tree is a local desert tree which bears the harsh summers with drought and high temperatures. From the rich flowers, bees that pollinate this tree can produce delicious red colour honey in June and July each year
Sidr Honey
The Sidr tree is an evergreen tree with long and strong forked branches. The blossom from this tree is called Yabyab, which provides rich food for bees to produce honey in October and November. This honey is the most expensive, but tastiest
Samar Honey
The Samar tree trunk, leaves and blossom contains Barm which is the secret of healing. You can enjoy the best types of honey from this tree every year in May and June. It is an historical witness to the life of the Emirati nation which represents the harsh desert and mountain environments
The Details
Kabir Singh
Produced by: Cinestaan Studios, T-Series
Directed by: Sandeep Reddy Vanga
Starring: Shahid Kapoor, Kiara Advani, Suresh Oberoi, Soham Majumdar, Arjun Pahwa
Rating: 2.5/5
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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MATCH INFO
Uefa Champioons League semi-final:
First leg: Liverpool 5 Roma 2
Second leg: Wednesday, May 2, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
TV: BeIN Sports, 10.45pm (UAE)
The five pillars of Islam
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The design
The protective shell is covered in solar panels to make use of light and produce energy. This will drastically reduce energy loss.
More than 80 per cent of the energy consumed by the French pavilion will be produced by the sun.
The architecture will control light sources to provide a highly insulated and airtight building.
The forecourt is protected from the sun and the plants will refresh the inner spaces.
A micro water treatment plant will recycle used water to supply the irrigation for the plants and to flush the toilets. This will reduce the pavilion’s need for fresh water by 30 per cent.
Energy-saving equipment will be used for all lighting and projections.
Beyond its use for the expo, the pavilion will be easy to dismantle and reuse the material.
Some elements of the metal frame can be prefabricated in a factory.
From architects to sound technicians and construction companies, a group of experts from 10 companies have created the pavilion.
Work will begin in May; the first stone will be laid in Dubai in the second quarter of 2019.
Construction of the pavilion will take 17 months from May 2019 to September 2020.
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
MATCH INFO
Fixture: Thailand v UAE, Tuesday, 4pm (UAE)
TV: Abu Dhabi Sports
'The Batman'
Stars:Robert Pattinson
Director:Matt Reeves
Rating: 5/5
