An auction house in Hong Kong has broken the price-per-carat record for a gemstone auctioned off, with the sale of a six-carat blue diamond at nearly $8 million.
Sotheby's of Hong Kong announced the sale Monday, noting that the price comes out to $1.32 million a carat. The sale bested a 20-year record held by a diamond known as the "Hancock Red" that fetched just over $900,000 per carat in 1987.
The buyer for the diamond is Moussaieff Jewelers, a London-based jeweler that collects rare gemstones.
The diamond is said to be in perfect condition with a rare, vivid blue color - the result of the element boron in the stone's crystal structure.
Some information for this report was provided by Reuters.
