Q: What is the most expensive gem ever sold at auction?

A: The world’s most expensive blue diamond, The Wittelsbach, was sold to diamond dealer, Laurence Graff, last year for $24.3 million. The 17th-century 35.56-carat stone was originally given to Infanta Margarita Teresa by her father King Philip IV of Spain on the occasion of her engagement to her uncle, Leopold I of Austria. (Any chance of tracing the earlier history of the Wittelsbach was lost when the Madrid archives were destroyed during the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39.) The bride’s father commanded the treasurer to compose a dowry from a recent acquisition of precious stones from India and Portugal. The resulting selection included a large blue diamond. Unfortunately, the marriage between the Emperor and the Infanta ended with her early death in 1675. Her jewels passed to her husband, and listed in a document dated March 23rd, 1673. The diamond remained in royal custody for over 300 years until it found its way into a private collection, where it has remained since 1964.

The first record of the Wittelsbach dates from the latter part of the seventeenth century. One fact is thus certain: the diamond must be of Indian origin. Furthermore, it has been suggested that a diamond of such a rare color must once have formed part of the famous French Blue Diamond, weighing 112½ old carats in the rough, which Tavernier bought in India and later sold to Louis XIV of France. The principal gem which this yielded is the Hope, weighing 45.52 carat, so that technical reasons alone clearly preclude the possibility of the Wittelsbach having been fashioned from the same piece of rough. The sole possibility of a connection between the Wittelsbach and the Hope lies in Tavernier’s French Blue Diamond being merely part of a much larger piece of rough that had at some time been split in two (a very unlikely occurence). However, it would be interesting to ascertain whether the Wittelsbach has physical properties similar to the Hope.