GENEVA – The 11.16 carat Laguna Blu, an exquisite rare fancy vivid blue diamond ring, the top lot in the Sotheby’s May 16 Magnificent Jewels sale, achieved USD $25.2 million, the highest ever value for a Bulgari jewel offered for sale, the auction house said.
Picture courtesy of Sotheby’s
The Bulgari Laguna Blu was auctioned last in the second session of the Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels, after a string of spectacular sales of signed jewels and exceptional gemstones. After a four-minute bidding battle between three telephone bidders and one bidder in the room, it eventually found a buyer on the phone.
Coloured gemstones – and signed coloured jewels especially – had an exceptional evening with nearly a quarter of all lots sold featuring them selling way above their high estimates – led by sales of jewellery featuring rubies, emeralds, sapphires as well as yellow and pink diamonds.
The Bulgari Laguna Blu – Overview
The Bulgari Laguna Blu is a gemstone like no other, boasting an exceptional colour saturation and a vibrant oceanic blue, with provenance from a Distinguished European Collection.
Created in 1970 by Bulgari as a ring – at a time when Bulgari was undergoing some of its most significant transformations and emerging as the most influential and innovative Italian high jewellery house in the world – the Bulgari Laguna Blu is a rarity three times over – it’s an 11.16 carat Fancy Vivid blue diamond, among the rarest gemstones on earth; it is a jewel signed by Bulgari; and it is unmodified which means that its current cut – produced in 1970, could be further improved with modern cutting methods to release its full gemstone potential.
