Pursuits
Hong Kong Billionaire Lau Buys Record $48 Million Diamond
- Lau renamed it "The Blue Moon of Josephine" after his daughter
- Lau also bought her a diamond for $28.6 million day before
The Blue Moon diamond.
Photographer: Chris Goodney/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Hong Kong billionaire Joseph Lau paid 48.6 million Swiss francs ($48.4 million) Wednesday night at Sotheby’s in Geneva for a 12.03-carat blue diamond, the most ever spent on a jewel at auction.
Lau’s record-breaking purchase came a day after he paid 28.7 million francs for a 16.08-carat pink diamond at a sale by Christie’s in Geneva, said a spokesperson at Chinese Estates Holdings, the property company he controls in Hong Kong. Both purchases were made for his 7-year-old daughter Josephine, his office said.