Sotheby’s has debuted an exhibition featuring rare diamonds worth more than $100 million, including the Mediterranean Blue, a 10.03-carat diamond that will lead the Geneva High Jewelry sale in May, where it carries an estimate of $20 million.
The event, which is the auction house’s first in Abu Dhabi since 2009, will run through April 10, Sotheby’s said Tuesday. The show will mark the first time the blue diamond will be seen in public. The exhibition will take place at the Bassam Freiha Art Foundation on Abu Dhabi’s Saadiyat Island.
Apart from the Mediterranean Blue, all other diamonds on show are designated for private sale, Sotheby’s told Rapaport News.
“One of the most rewarding parts of what we do at Sotheby’s is bringing together treasures that have never been seen together and showcasing them to the public before they go on to the next chapter in their stories,” said Katia Nounou Boueiz, Sotheby’s deputy chairman of the Middle East and head of Sotheby’s in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). “An exhibition of this kind and scale on diamonds has never been staged before in the Middle East, and very rarely anywhere else in the world, so it is exciting to mark our first public exhibition in Abu Dhabi in recent years in such an illustrious way.”
Here are the diamonds that will be on display in Abu Dhabi:




at the Sotheby’s High Jewelry sale in Geneva image










Main image: Some of the jewels featured at the exhibition. (Sotheby’s)