Rare blue diamond shines at multimillion-pound exhibition in Abu Dhabi

Sotheby’s deputy chairwoman, Middle East and head of Sotheby’s UAE, Katia Noun Boueiz wears the Mediterranean Blue diamond during its worldwide debut in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday (Altaf Qadri/AP)

A rare blue diamond was on display on Tuesday at an exhibition of 80 million pounds’ worth of the world’s rarest diamonds in the United Arab Emirates’ capital, Abu Dhabi.

The eight diamonds on display at the Sotheby’s exhibition have a total weight of more than 700 carats.

Visitors focused on the 10-carat blue diamond from South Africa, considered one of the most important blue diamonds ever discovered.

Sotheby’s expects it to be auctioned off at 20 million dollars (£15.6 million) in May.

Quig Bruning, the company’s head of jewels in North America, Europe and the Middle East, said they chose Abu Dhabi for the current exhibition because of the Gulf nation’s high interest in diamonds.

“We have great optimism about the region,” he said. “We feel very strongly that this is the kind of place where you have both traders and collectors of diamonds of this importance and of this rarity.”