The price, at the Christie's auction in Geneva on Tuesday, was well above the expected $15 million and more than triple the price paid for it at auction almost two decades ago.
The 76.02-carat diamond, with perfect color and internally flawless clarity, came from the ancient Golconda mines in India. It was named for Archduke Joseph August of Austria, the great grandson of both a Holy Roman emperor and a French king.
The seller, Alfredo J. Molina, chairman of California-based jeweler Black, Starr & Frost, said immediately afterward that there were two main bidders and that he was delighted with the result.
Mr Molina said the winning bidder, who wished to remain anonymous, is going to donate the diamond for display at a museum.
"It's a great price for a stone of this quality," Mr Molina said. "It's one of a kind, so it's like saying 'Are you pleased when you sell the Mona Lisa?' Or 'Are you pleased when you sell the Hope Diamond?'
"It's all what the market will bear, and the stone sold for a very serious price."
The diamond passed to Archduke Joseph's son, Archduke Joseph Francis, who put it in a bank vault. It then went on to an anonymous buyer who kept it in a safe during World War II.
From there it surfaced at a London auction in 1961, then at a Geneva auction in 1993, when Christie's sold it for $6.5 million.
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