Sotheby’s Tips Largest Blue Diamond at Auction to Fetch $48 Mn

Model Stephany Martins holds up the "The De Beers Cullinan Blue" blue diamond during a press preview at Sotheby's in New York, on February 15, 2022. (AFP)
Model Stephany Martins holds up the "The De Beers Cullinan Blue" blue diamond during a press preview at Sotheby's in New York, on February 15, 2022. (AFP)
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Sotheby’s Tips Largest Blue Diamond at Auction to Fetch $48 Mn

Model Stephany Martins holds up the "The De Beers Cullinan Blue" blue diamond during a press preview at Sotheby's in New York, on February 15, 2022. (AFP)
Model Stephany Martins holds up the "The De Beers Cullinan Blue" blue diamond during a press preview at Sotheby's in New York, on February 15, 2022. (AFP)

Sotheby's announced Wednesday that it would offer the largest-ever blue diamond to go up for auction at a sale in Hong Kong in April.

The auction house said it expected the 15.10-carat De Beers Cullinan Blue diamond to sell for more than $48 million.

The diamond is the "largest internally flawless step cut vivid blue diamond" ever graded by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), Sotheby's said in a statement.

The sale will mark the first time a blue diamond of more than 15 carats has ever gone under the hammer, the press release added.

Sotheby's said the diamond, which previewed in New York this week, would be offered on a yet-to-be determined date during its Hong Kong Luxury Week in April.

It was cut from a rough stone discovered in discovered at the Cullinan mine in South Africa in April 2021.

The diamond is bigger than the Oppenheimer Blue, a 14.62 carat stone that set the world record price for a blue diamond at auction in May 2016 when it sold for $57.5 million.

Earlier this month, Sotheby's in London sold the Enigma -- the largest cut diamond ever to come to auction at 555.55 carats -- for £3.16 million ($4.3 million).



Many US Ice Cream Producers to Phase Out Artificial Food Dyes by 2028

Volunteers scoop ice cream before a press conference on the steps of the United States Department of Agriculture on July 14, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Getty Images/AFP)
Volunteers scoop ice cream before a press conference on the steps of the United States Department of Agriculture on July 14, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Many US Ice Cream Producers to Phase Out Artificial Food Dyes by 2028

Volunteers scoop ice cream before a press conference on the steps of the United States Department of Agriculture on July 14, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Getty Images/AFP)
Volunteers scoop ice cream before a press conference on the steps of the United States Department of Agriculture on July 14, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Getty Images/AFP)

Dozens of US ice cream producers are planning to remove artificial colors from their products by 2028, a dairy industry group and government officials said on Monday.

The producers, which together represent more than 90% of ice cream sold in the US, are the latest food companies to take voluntary steps to remove dyes since Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in April said the US aimed to phase out many synthetic dyes from the country's food supply.

Several major food manufacturers, including General Mills, Kraft Heinz, J.M. Smucker, Hershey and Nestle USA, have previously announced their plans to phase out synthetic food coloring.

The 40 ice cream companies will remove Red 3, Red 40, Green 3, Blue 1, Blue 2, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6 from their retail products, excluding non-dairy products, according to the International Dairy Foods Association.

The IDFA announced the plan at an event at the US Department of Agriculture headquarters on Monday with Kennedy, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.

"We know that our current health outcomes, especially for our children, are unsustainable and that American agriculture is at the heart of the solution to make America healthy again," Rollins said at the event, referencing a slogan aligned with Kennedy.

Rollins and Kennedy have worked closely together on food sector efforts like encouraging states to ban soda from the nation's largest food aid program.

Kennedy has blamed food dyes for rising rates of ADHD and cancer, an area many scientists say requires more research.

The IDFA said artificial dyes are safe, but that ice cream makers are taking the step in part to avoid disruption to sales from state efforts to phase out dyes from school foods and West Virginia's recent food dye ban.