Blue Diamond Sells for $6.4

I've got the blues today. In a good way.

Sotheby's Hong Kong unloaded one whopper of a flawless blue diamond today for a mere 6.4 million USD. The rare, 5.16-carat rock was snatched up by London's famed Moussaieff Jewellers, who paid more than the 5.9-million dollar estimated price tag for the gem.

The pear-shaped stone is the first of 11 blue diamonds from the celebrated De Beers Millienium Jewels Collection to appear at auction.

"The price was above the high estimate," a spokeswoman for auction house Sotheby's told AFP.

But the world per-carat record for a blue diamond remains the 10.5 million dollars paid by a Hong Kong property tycoon for a seven-carat blue diamond in Geneva in May last year.

What are they putting in the water in Hong Kong? And can I fill a pool with it?

Sotheby's said gem sales in Hong Kong were on the rise -- the city has overtaken New York to become the company's second biggest market after Geneva.

Terry Chu, deputy head of Sotheby's jewelery department for China and Southeast Asia, said diamonds were particularly appealing to new Asian buyers because of their stable prices and assured quality.

"There have been a lot of new diamond buyers from mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and elsewhere in the region," Chu told AFP.

You had me at "Lei Hao"