A spactacular blue diamond, the largest in its category, fetched a total of $23.79 million at a Christie’s auction in Geneva on Wednesday.

The sale of the 13.22 carat rock known simply as “The Blue” came a day after Sotheby’s sold a 100-carat flawless yellow diamond for $16.3 million.

When the world’s largest orange diamond went under the hammer last November at Christie’s in Geneva, it raked in $35.5 million.

Such marquee sales underline the growing popularity of coloured diamonds. Once considered a curiosity, they are rarer than white diamonds and now attract higher prices per carat than even the most flawless, translucent stone.

The US jeweller Harry Winston bought it from an anonymous seller. The company plans to rename the 13.22-carat pear-shaped rock the “Winston Blue”. Harry Winston was bought by watch group Swatch last year.