A 10-carat blue diamond shines at a $100 million exhibition in Abu Dhabi

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ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A rare blue diamond was displayed Tuesday at an exhibition of $100 million worth of the world's rarest diamonds in the United Arab Emirates’ capital, Abu Dhabi.

The eight diamonds on display at the Sotheby’s exhibition have a total weight of over 700 carats. They include red, yellow, pink and colorless diamonds.

Visitors focused on the 10-karat blue diamond from South Africa, considered one of the most important blue diamonds ever discovered. Sotheby’s expects it to be auctioned off at $20 million in May.

Quig Bruning, the company's head of jewels in North America, Europe and the Middle East, said they chose Abu Dhabi for the current exhibition because of the Gulf nation's high interest in diamonds.

“We have great optimism about the region," he said. “We feel very strongly that this is the kind of place where you have both traders and collectors of diamonds of this importance and of this rarity.”