Diamond sold at $ 3.56 mln

A 6.5-carat blue diamond went for 2.43 million euros (3.56 million dollars), more than three times its estimated value at auction in France on Saturday, the auction house said in a statement.

An international company specialised in buying precious stones placed the winning bid by telephone, according to the Guizzetti-Collet auction house.

The precious stone had been appraised at between 500,000 and 700,000 euros.

The "blue intense homogenous"-coloured diamond, with "extraordinary" coloration, came from a ring "bought in 1962 by the owners of a champagne house, on the occasion of promoting a special vintage," the auction house said in a statement.

Reims, Sunday, AFP