GENEVA - A vivid blue, 3.7-carat diamond ring has sold for nearly $5 million at auction in Switzerland, becoming the priciest gemstone per carat ever.

Sotheby's says the oval-shaped stone - about the size of a pistachio shell - fetched a price of $1.33 million per carat.

That just edged out a similar blue diamond that sold last year in Hong Kong for $1.32 million per carat.

The auction house identified the buyer as London jeweller Laurence Graff, known in the industry as the "King of Diamonds."

In total, 423 lots sold for $57.1 million Thursday night at Geneva's plush Beau Rivage hotel.

A 64-piece collection of jewels belonging to Lily Marinho, a French beauty queen who married two of Brazil's most powerful men, sold for $11 million - easily clearing high-end estimates of $8.5 million.

The top piece from the collection was a pair of pear-shaped diamond drops that sold to an unnamed buyer for $2.9 million.

Marinho, 87, was married to Brazilian millionaire Horacio de Carvalho and then Roberto Marinho, who died five years ago after building the Globo media empire.

On Wednesday evening, rival auctioneers Christie's nearly matched the Sotheby's jewels sale, fetching $57 million in 265 lots.

The star of the show was a 13.4-carat "fancy intense blue" diamond that sold for $8.9 million. Christie's said that was a record for a coloured diamond.

Among the five other stones that topped $2 million was an emerald, diamond and natural pearl necklace purchased for over $5.6 million, well over the high-end estimate of $3.1 million.

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