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An astonishing HK$49.9m (4.2m) was paid for a 5.16 carat flawless blue diamond in an auction by Sotheby's in Hong Kong by Alisa Moussaieff, founder of Moussaieff Jewellers Ltd in London. She believes she paid less that the true value of the gem for which she beat a handful of high bidding rivals. Alisa founded Moussaieff Jewellers with husband Sam half a century ago. The London boutique supplies gems to royalty and stars, and owns rare stones such as the 5.11-carat "Moussaieff Red," the world's biggest natural fancy-red diamond.

Diamond experts have said that she could sell the stone for nearly three times the amount at her high street London store where she plans on changing it's mounting. The gem was bought at an auction where around 150 bidders bought more than 25 million worth of jade, diamonds, pearls and other gems.

Moussaieff's daughter considers bidders from Asia and mainland china to not have as much interest in blue diamonds as they are more concerned in hues they consider lucky such as red or pink. "The Chinese are learning very fast and have a good eye for quality," said Tamara Moussaieff, who flew in from Tel Aviv to help her mother consider the purchase.

Sotheby's held five days of auctions in Hong Kong at which it sold more than 100 million of jewellery, art, watches and antiques.

Diamond sales have fallen considerably over the last few years thanks to the economic downturn and prices are not expected to return to normal for at least ten years. The best value is kept in Larger unflawed stones.

Round, white diamonds of the third-highest VVS1 grade or better and fine jadeite fetched the best prices. A necklace of 35 emerald-green jadeite fetched 3.6 million; a necklace of 50 flawless, round diamonds of between 1.5-carat and 6.55-carat, and of the highest-possible D colour grading fetched 4.4 million, against the top estimate of 3.3 million.