Moussaieff Makes Fancy Color Diamond History

Moussaieff Jewellers has just sold a 4.29 carat Fancy Vivid Blue IF marquise shaped diamond in Hong Kong today for a new record price, beating its own record held for just over two years.

Moussaieff fancy vivid blue IF diamond-2

The 4.29 carat Fancy Vivid Blue IF marquise shaped diamond           Image credit: Christie’s 

History in the Making

Moussaieff Jewellers of London has broken many world records for diamond prices over the years for the diamonds that they choose to sell. Now they have done it again, this time for their 4.29 carat Fancy Vivid Blue diamond that was sold in Hong Kong for $2.755 million per carat. It is a 60.5% premium on its last Fancy Vivid Blue diamond that was sold in the 3-5 carat category just two years ago.

We categorize diamond prices by color and carat size (clarity and other characteristics are factors as well but not for the sake of our categorization purposes). In this color and carat category, the price surpassed the last such diamond that held the record, the 3.39 carat Fancy Vivid Blue diamond (also a Moussaieff) that sold on November 25, 2014 at Christie’s jewelry auction in Hong Kong.

 

Moussaieff 3.39 carat Fancy Vivid Blue diamond ring-2

The 3.39 carat Fancy Vivid Blue Moussaieff diamond          Image credit: Christie’s 

 

The most interesting part of the sale of the diamond is the timing and valuation of this record price. The price per carat record for the 4.29 carat blue diamond was even greater than the per carat price paid for the 8.01 carat Fancy Vivid Blue sold by Sotheby’s in Geneva, which was sold for $2.131 million per carat just days ago. How could this be? Why would investors pay more per carat for a diamond half the size, merely days afterward?

 

sky blue diamond ring

The 8.01 carat Fancy Vivid Blue diamond          Image credit: Sotheby’s

Smaller Can Be better

Most people are surprised that a 4.29 carat diamond was able to earn a higher price than an 8.01 carat diamond. Both had the same color, Fancy Vivid Blue. The differences, which would affect value, are in clarity and size, and each diamond has a strike in this regard. The 4.29 carat diamond had an IF clarity and the 8.01 carat diamond had a VVS1 clarity (higher clarity can garner a premium). The 8.01 carat diamond is in the 5-10 carat category as opposed to the 4.29 carat diamond’s 3-5 carat category, which makes the 8.01 carat diamond rarer, which has its own premium merit.

So why was there such a price difference between the two diamonds? Simply put, the 4.29 carat diamond had a better color – a stronger color – and as we know all too well, in fancy color diamonds, color is king.

Strong Start

The first bid was HKD 50 million or $6.477 million total, a strong starting bid, and within less than 2 minutes it arrived at its hammer price of HKD 85 million. After fees the final price was $11,822,468 or $2.755 million per carat.

Why the Sale?

In recent years we have seen many famous Moussaieff diamonds being sold at auctions. The majority of them were owned by Moussaieff just prior to the sale, and not owned by others. I speculate 2 reasons as to why Moussaieff is selling the diamonds. The first is that prices have climbed to a new level. Therefore, similar to other assets, when a certain level of gain has been made it is time to materialize those gains. Does it mean that blue diamonds are now overpriced? Not at all. We can address this reason in a different post. The second reason is Estate Planning. Aliza Moussaieff is nearing her 90th birthday, and like every responsible person, she is preparing her legacy for the next generation (we wish Aliza lots of health and as we say in Hebrew “Ad 120”). Aliza has three daughters, and only 1, Tamara, is in the business. The older sister, Dorit, is married to the current president of Iceland (which by the way, also happens to be in a long court battle over the usage of its name by a grocery chain in Britain). In my opinion, in order to ensure there are is no or minimal family feud about the assets, liquidity is being prepared for when the time comes. If even one or both of these reasons is correct, it could very well justify why they are selling diamonds now rather than keeping them for an even longer duration (for even higher gains).

 

Alisa-Moussaieff-and-family

Aliza Mousaieff, Wife of late Shlomo Mousaieff, Founder of Mousaieff Jewelers 

 

Where Are Prices Headed?

I recently had a very interesting discussion on this topic with another famous diamond dealer in Israel, Avraham Eshed and his son Lior of Eshed Diam, who are world renowned for their emerald business going back 5 decades. As a major dealer, for the first time, it was quite hard even for him to read where the markets are headed.

 

avraham eshed

Avraham Eshed of Eshed Diam in Israel

 

Actually, it is difficult for any investor to accept new price levels. Take Apple for example. If an investor pays $50 per share for it, and slowly it climbs to $60, how easily will the investor be willing to pay $60 for a share that he paid $50 for previously? How about if it goes to $70, $80 and $90? The investor will have a hard time doing so psychologically. It can be similar in diamonds. The investor that paid $400k per carat for a 4 carat vivid blue diamond back in 2003, will have a hard paying $1 million per carat just a few short years later and now, climbing to over $2 million. That is a 5-fold increase in over 13 years!

Investors are realizing that scarcity and rarity is a major factor in such high prices. According to the FCRF rarity evaluator, there is approximately only 1 in 610 million diamonds unearthed like the 4.29 carat Moussaieff Blue diamond, incredible odds.
If we would tell you that while now, a 4.29 carat Fancy Vivid Blue diamond is selling for about $2.755 million per carat, would you believe me if I would say that in 10 years, that price may be $5 million per carat or more?

The easiest way to see the level of confidence in the market is seeing if auction items are sold to private individuals or to dealers from the trade. If a dealer from the trade is willing to pay a premium on such rare pieces, then I would say that the confidence level is high. Just look at 2 recent transactions done by Laurence Graff from Graff Diamonds. Graff acquired two very rare Fancy Intense Pink diamonds just days ago, both diamonds over 10 carats, with very high clarity, and most importantly, both with unique color. Graff paid over $1.2 million per carat for the 13.20 carat Fancy Intense Pink diamond and also for the 17.07 carat Fancy Intense Pink diamond.  As a dealer, we would expect him to eventually resell them to a client, and make at least some sort of profit on them. If Graff is buying diamonds that would resell, then we can deduce that there is whom to resell them to. That is definitely a vote of confidence by the part of diamond dealers.

 

©Desmond O'Neill Features

Laurence Graff, Founder of World renowned Graff Diamonds

13.20 carat fancy intense pink if diamond-2

The 13.20 carat Fancy Intense Pink diamond          Image credit: Sotheby’s

17.07 carat fancy intense pink vvs1 diamond-2

The 17.07 carat Fancy Intense Pink diamond          Image credit: Sotheby’s 

 

There are just a few more auctions before the end of the year, and we look forward to reporting the results in the coming weeks. Where do you think the markets will go in 2017? How many new records do you think will be broken?

Leave a Reply

Moussaieff Makes Fancy Color Diamond History

Moussaieff Jewellers has just sold a 4.29 carat Fancy Vivid Blue IF marquise shaped diamond in Hong Kong today for a new record price, beating its own record held for just over two years.

Moussaieff fancy vivid blue IF diamond-2

The 4.29 carat Fancy Vivid Blue IF marquise shaped diamond           Image credit: Christie’s 

History in the Making

Moussaieff Jewellers of London has broken many world records for diamond prices over the years for the diamonds that they choose to sell. Now they have done it again, this time for their 4.29 carat Fancy Vivid Blue diamond that was sold in Hong Kong for $2.755 million per carat. It is a 60.5% premium on its last Fancy Vivid Blue diamond that was sold in the 3-5 carat category just two years ago.

We categorize diamond prices by color and carat size (clarity and other characteristics are factors as well but not for the sake of our categorization purposes). In this color and carat category, the price surpassed the last such diamond that held the record, the 3.39 carat Fancy Vivid Blue diamond (also a Moussaieff) that sold on November 25, 2014 at Christie’s jewelry auction in Hong Kong.

 

Moussaieff 3.39 carat Fancy Vivid Blue diamond ring-2

The 3.39 carat Fancy Vivid Blue Moussaieff diamond          Image credit: Christie’s 

 

The most interesting part of the sale of the diamond is the timing and valuation of this record price. The price per carat record for the 4.29 carat blue diamond was even greater than the per carat price paid for the 8.01 carat Fancy Vivid Blue sold by Sotheby’s in Geneva, which was sold for $2.131 million per carat just days ago. How could this be? Why would investors pay more per carat for a diamond half the size, merely days afterward?

 

sky blue diamond ring

The 8.01 carat Fancy Vivid Blue diamond          Image credit: Sotheby’s

Smaller Can Be better

Most people are surprised that a 4.29 carat diamond was able to earn a higher price than an 8.01 carat diamond. Both had the same color, Fancy Vivid Blue. The differences, which would affect value, are in clarity and size, and each diamond has a strike in this regard. The 4.29 carat diamond had an IF clarity and the 8.01 carat diamond had a VVS1 clarity (higher clarity can garner a premium). The 8.01 carat diamond is in the 5-10 carat category as opposed to the 4.29 carat diamond’s 3-5 carat category, which makes the 8.01 carat diamond rarer, which has its own premium merit.

So why was there such a price difference between the two diamonds? Simply put, the 4.29 carat diamond had a better color – a stronger color – and as we know all too well, in fancy color diamonds, color is king.

Strong Start

The first bid was HKD 50 million or $6.477 million total, a strong starting bid, and within less than 2 minutes it arrived at its hammer price of HKD 85 million. After fees the final price was $11,822,468 or $2.755 million per carat.

Why the Sale?

In recent years we have seen many famous Moussaieff diamonds being sold at auctions. The majority of them were owned by Moussaieff just prior to the sale, and not owned by others. I speculate 2 reasons as to why Moussaieff is selling the diamonds. The first is that prices have climbed to a new level. Therefore, similar to other assets, when a certain level of gain has been made it is time to materialize those gains. Does it mean that blue diamonds are now overpriced? Not at all. We can address this reason in a different post. The second reason is Estate Planning. Aliza Moussaieff is nearing her 90th birthday, and like every responsible person, she is preparing her legacy for the next generation (we wish Aliza lots of health and as we say in Hebrew “Ad 120”). Aliza has three daughters, and only 1, Tamara, is in the business. The older sister, Dorit, is married to the current president of Iceland (which by the way, also happens to be in a long court battle over the usage of its name by a grocery chain in Britain). In my opinion, in order to ensure there are is no or minimal family feud about the assets, liquidity is being prepared for when the time comes. If even one or both of these reasons is correct, it could very well justify why they are selling diamonds now rather than keeping them for an even longer duration (for even higher gains).

 

Alisa-Moussaieff-and-family

Aliza Mousaieff, Wife of late Shlomo Mousaieff, Founder of Mousaieff Jewelers 

 

Where Are Prices Headed?

I recently had a very interesting discussion on this topic with another famous diamond dealer in Israel, Avraham Eshed and his son Lior of Eshed Diam, who are world renowned for their emerald business going back 5 decades. As a major dealer, for the first time, it was quite hard even for him to read where the markets are headed.

 

avraham eshed

Avraham Eshed of Eshed Diam in Israel

 

Actually, it is difficult for any investor to accept new price levels. Take Apple for example. If an investor pays $50 per share for it, and slowly it climbs to $60, how easily will the investor be willing to pay $60 for a share that he paid $50 for previously? How about if it goes to $70, $80 and $90? The investor will have a hard time doing so psychologically. It can be similar in diamonds. The investor that paid $400k per carat for a 4 carat vivid blue diamond back in 2003, will have a hard paying $1 million per carat just a few short years later and now, climbing to over $2 million. That is a 5-fold increase in over 13 years!

Investors are realizing that scarcity and rarity is a major factor in such high prices. According to the FCRF rarity evaluator, there is approximately only 1 in 610 million diamonds unearthed like the 4.29 carat Moussaieff Blue diamond, incredible odds.
If we would tell you that while now, a 4.29 carat Fancy Vivid Blue diamond is selling for about $2.755 million per carat, would you believe me if I would say that in 10 years, that price may be $5 million per carat or more?

The easiest way to see the level of confidence in the market is seeing if auction items are sold to private individuals or to dealers from the trade. If a dealer from the trade is willing to pay a premium on such rare pieces, then I would say that the confidence level is high. Just look at 2 recent transactions done by Laurence Graff from Graff Diamonds. Graff acquired two very rare Fancy Intense Pink diamonds just days ago, both diamonds over 10 carats, with very high clarity, and most importantly, both with unique color. Graff paid over $1.2 million per carat for the 13.20 carat Fancy Intense Pink diamond and also for the 17.07 carat Fancy Intense Pink diamond.  As a dealer, we would expect him to eventually resell them to a client, and make at least some sort of profit on them. If Graff is buying diamonds that would resell, then we can deduce that there is whom to resell them to. That is definitely a vote of confidence by the part of diamond dealers.

 

©Desmond O'Neill Features

Laurence Graff, Founder of World renowned Graff Diamonds

13.20 carat fancy intense pink if diamond-2

The 13.20 carat Fancy Intense Pink diamond          Image credit: Sotheby’s

17.07 carat fancy intense pink vvs1 diamond-2

The 17.07 carat Fancy Intense Pink diamond          Image credit: Sotheby’s 

 

There are just a few more auctions before the end of the year, and we look forward to reporting the results in the coming weeks. Where do you think the markets will go in 2017? How many new records do you think will be broken?

Leave a Reply

Moussaieff Makes Fancy Color Diamond History

Moussaieff Jewellers has just sold a 4.29 carat Fancy Vivid Blue IF marquise shaped diamond in Hong Kong today for a new record price, beating its own record held for just over two years.

Moussaieff fancy vivid blue IF diamond-2

The 4.29 carat Fancy Vivid Blue IF marquise shaped diamond           Image credit: Christie’s 

History in the Making

Moussaieff Jewellers of London has broken many world records for diamond prices over the years for the diamonds that they choose to sell. Now they have done it again, this time for their 4.29 carat Fancy Vivid Blue diamond that was sold in Hong Kong for $2.755 million per carat. It is a 60.5% premium on its last Fancy Vivid Blue diamond that was sold in the 3-5 carat category just two years ago.

We categorize diamond prices by color and carat size (clarity and other characteristics are factors as well but not for the sake of our categorization purposes). In this color and carat category, the price surpassed the last such diamond that held the record, the 3.39 carat Fancy Vivid Blue diamond (also a Moussaieff) that sold on November 25, 2014 at Christie’s jewelry auction in Hong Kong.

 

Moussaieff 3.39 carat Fancy Vivid Blue diamond ring-2

The 3.39 carat Fancy Vivid Blue Moussaieff diamond          Image credit: Christie’s 

 

The most interesting part of the sale of the diamond is the timing and valuation of this record price. The price per carat record for the 4.29 carat blue diamond was even greater than the per carat price paid for the 8.01 carat Fancy Vivid Blue sold by Sotheby’s in Geneva, which was sold for $2.131 million per carat just days ago. How could this be? Why would investors pay more per carat for a diamond half the size, merely days afterward?

 

sky blue diamond ring

The 8.01 carat Fancy Vivid Blue diamond          Image credit: Sotheby’s

Smaller Can Be better

Most people are surprised that a 4.29 carat diamond was able to earn a higher price than an 8.01 carat diamond. Both had the same color, Fancy Vivid Blue. The differences, which would affect value, are in clarity and size, and each diamond has a strike in this regard. The 4.29 carat diamond had an IF clarity and the 8.01 carat diamond had a VVS1 clarity (higher clarity can garner a premium). The 8.01 carat diamond is in the 5-10 carat category as opposed to the 4.29 carat diamond’s 3-5 carat category, which makes the 8.01 carat diamond rarer, which has its own premium merit.

So why was there such a price difference between the two diamonds? Simply put, the 4.29 carat diamond had a better color – a stronger color – and as we know all too well, in fancy color diamonds, color is king.

Strong Start

The first bid was HKD 50 million or $6.477 million total, a strong starting bid, and within less than 2 minutes it arrived at its hammer price of HKD 85 million. After fees the final price was $11,822,468 or $2.755 million per carat.

Why the Sale?

In recent years we have seen many famous Moussaieff diamonds being sold at auctions. The majority of them were owned by Moussaieff just prior to the sale, and not owned by others. I speculate 2 reasons as to why Moussaieff is selling the diamonds. The first is that prices have climbed to a new level. Therefore, similar to other assets, when a certain level of gain has been made it is time to materialize those gains. Does it mean that blue diamonds are now overpriced? Not at all. We can address this reason in a different post. The second reason is Estate Planning. Aliza Moussaieff is nearing her 90th birthday, and like every responsible person, she is preparing her legacy for the next generation (we wish Aliza lots of health and as we say in Hebrew “Ad 120”). Aliza has three daughters, and only 1, Tamara, is in the business. The older sister, Dorit, is married to the current president of Iceland (which by the way, also happens to be in a long court battle over the usage of its name by a grocery chain in Britain). In my opinion, in order to ensure there are is no or minimal family feud about the assets, liquidity is being prepared for when the time comes. If even one or both of these reasons is correct, it could very well justify why they are selling diamonds now rather than keeping them for an even longer duration (for even higher gains).

 

Alisa-Moussaieff-and-family

Aliza Mousaieff, Wife of late Shlomo Mousaieff, Founder of Mousaieff Jewelers 

 

Where Are Prices Headed?

I recently had a very interesting discussion on this topic with another famous diamond dealer in Israel, Avraham Eshed and his son Lior of Eshed Diam, who are world renowned for their emerald business going back 5 decades. As a major dealer, for the first time, it was quite hard even for him to read where the markets are headed.

 

avraham eshed

Avraham Eshed of Eshed Diam in Israel

 

Actually, it is difficult for any investor to accept new price levels. Take Apple for example. If an investor pays $50 per share for it, and slowly it climbs to $60, how easily will the investor be willing to pay $60 for a share that he paid $50 for previously? How about if it goes to $70, $80 and $90? The investor will have a hard time doing so psychologically. It can be similar in diamonds. The investor that paid $400k per carat for a 4 carat vivid blue diamond back in 2003, will have a hard paying $1 million per carat just a few short years later and now, climbing to over $2 million. That is a 5-fold increase in over 13 years!

Investors are realizing that scarcity and rarity is a major factor in such high prices. According to the FCRF rarity evaluator, there is approximately only 1 in 610 million diamonds unearthed like the 4.29 carat Moussaieff Blue diamond, incredible odds.
If we would tell you that while now, a 4.29 carat Fancy Vivid Blue diamond is selling for about $2.755 million per carat, would you believe me if I would say that in 10 years, that price may be $5 million per carat or more?

The easiest way to see the level of confidence in the market is seeing if auction items are sold to private individuals or to dealers from the trade. If a dealer from the trade is willing to pay a premium on such rare pieces, then I would say that the confidence level is high. Just look at 2 recent transactions done by Laurence Graff from Graff Diamonds. Graff acquired two very rare Fancy Intense Pink diamonds just days ago, both diamonds over 10 carats, with very high clarity, and most importantly, both with unique color. Graff paid over $1.2 million per carat for the 13.20 carat Fancy Intense Pink diamond and also for the 17.07 carat Fancy Intense Pink diamond.  As a dealer, we would expect him to eventually resell them to a client, and make at least some sort of profit on them. If Graff is buying diamonds that would resell, then we can deduce that there is whom to resell them to. That is definitely a vote of confidence by the part of diamond dealers.

 

©Desmond O'Neill Features

Laurence Graff, Founder of World renowned Graff Diamonds

13.20 carat fancy intense pink if diamond-2

The 13.20 carat Fancy Intense Pink diamond          Image credit: Sotheby’s

17.07 carat fancy intense pink vvs1 diamond-2

The 17.07 carat Fancy Intense Pink diamond          Image credit: Sotheby’s 

 

There are just a few more auctions before the end of the year, and we look forward to reporting the results in the coming weeks. Where do you think the markets will go in 2017? How many new records do you think will be broken?

Leave a Reply


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