Archduke Joseph Diamond fetches record $21.5M

A model holds the Archduke Joseph historical diamond Oct. 3, 2012, during a Christie's auction preview in Geneva. / AFP/Getty Images

Updated 5:06 PM ET

GENEVA Geneva's jewelry auctions, held in five-star hotels along its elegant lakefront, can seem a continent if not a world away from the grim austerity gripping much of Europe. One  out-of-this-world diamonds was auctioned off this week, joining a long list of other fabulous jewels, watches and other luxury goods sold in Geneva:

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Massive diamond expected to fetch up to $25M at auction

Perfectly Transparent

Christie's has auctioned off the famed Archduke Joseph Diamond for $21,474,525 including commission, a world auction record price per carat for a colorless diamond.

The price was well above the expected $15 million and more than triple the price paid for it at auction almost two decades ago.

The 76.02-carat diamond, with perfect color and internally flawless clarity, came from the ancient Golconda mines in India. It was named for Archduke Joseph August of Austria, the great grandson of both a Holy Roman emperor and a French king.

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76-carat diamond nets a record $21.5M

Fancy Deep Blue

Sotheby's on Wednesday will auction what it calls an exceptionally rare fancy deep blue briolette diamond of 10.48 carats expected to get up to $4.5 million. Also on the block -- a conch pearl, enamel and diamond Cartier bracelet that formerly belonged to Queen Victoria Eugenia of Spain that's expected to sell for up to $1.4 million.

Royal Connections

In May 2012, Sotheby's sold the 34.98 carat Beau Sancy diamond to an anonymous bidder for $9.7 million. Marie de Medici had worn it at her coronation as Queen Consort of Henry IV in France in 1610. Then the diamond passed among the royal families in France, England, the Netherlands and Prussia. It was sold by the Royal House of Prussia.

Sotheby's also sold for $3.87 million the Murat Tiara, a pearl-and-diamond tiara created for the marriage of a prince whose ancestors included the husband of Caroline Bonaparte, Napoleon's sister. Christie's auctioned off a 32.08-carat Burmese ruby and diamond ring that sold for $6.7 million, a world record price for a ruby sold at auction.

Pear-Shaped

In November 2011, the Sun-Drop Diamond of South Africa, a giant pear-shaped yellow gem weighing 110.3 carats, sold for more than $10.9 million at auction, beating previous records for a jewel of its type. Including commission, the unidentified telephone bidder paid almost $12.4 million for the gem. Other lots at the $70 million sale included a white cushion-shaped diamond weighing 38.88 carats that sold for almost $7 million, including commission.

Heart-Shaped

In May 2011, Christie's fetched $10.9 million for a 56-carat heart-shaped diamond that was internally flawless and $7.1 million for a 130-carat Burmese sapphire. Sotheby's got $12.7 million for a rare emerald-and-diamond tiara that a fabulously wealthy German prince, Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck, commissioned for his second, Russian-born wife around 1900. An intensely pink 11-carat diamond from the mines of India sold for $10.8 million.

Intensely Pink

In November 2010, a rare pink diamond smashed the world record for a jewel at auction, selling for more than $46 million to well-known London jeweler Laurence Graff. Four bidders competed for the pink diamond, which was last sold 60 years earlier by New York jeweler Harry Winston. The seller chose to remain anonymous. The 24.78-carat "fancy intense pink" diamond immediately became known as "The Graff Pink."

[kbbpll]

I'm hungry and thirsty.

[zebra8835]

What a piece of ice! -fantastic! Since the piece was up for auction, a museum could have bid on the diamond as well. Because of its rarity, it has proven to be a good investment returning much more than the stock market.

[Meezermom1951]

Would be nice to see pictures of them and even nicer if they were in museums. These are historical pieces, not something for some vane person to wear.

[askagain]

If you believe in the free market, there is no reason that individuals shouldn't be able to own them. In fact, these jewels have changed hands many times. In some cases, these jewels have gone from one member of the royalty to another as royalty of different countries married each other.

[audemus]

....foolish people.

[askagain]

Are they really foolish? Obviously, these people can afford the luxury. Think what it must do for their egos. And, the prestige it presents to their friends and associates. For those who can afford these prices, it is a drop in the bucket.