The Most Expensive Pink Diamond Ever Has Been Sold
The Click Times: A pink diamond has sold at auction for $57.73 million, becoming the most expensive ever per carat.
The 34.54ct Fancy Vivid Pink diamond was sold to a private buyer by Sotheby’s and Christie’s auction house in Geneva on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
The previous record for a fancy vivid pink diamond was set in 2010 when Christie’s sold one for $34.8 million.
“Fancy Vivid Pink” is graded as having “intense flashes of intense color, with an overall tint that is pale pink through rose-pink.” It was bought by an unidentified bidder from Geneva-based Sotheby’s International Realty.
It was one of three lots in the Sotheby’s/Christie’s sale of diamonds along with a 32.79ct Ideal cut emerald and an 18.01ct GIA certificate Fancy Intense Pink diamond which were both bought by different bidders from New York City-based dealers Andrew Zimbalist Diamond Corporation and Steven Cohen Diamond Paints Inc., respectively
The Williamson Pink Star diamond was cut from a rough 32.32-carat diamond recovered at the Williamson mine in Tanzania and is one of “world’s purest, most saturated” pink diamonds, according to Sotheby’s. It’s fixed on an 18-carat pink, white and gold band. It’s also the second-largest pink diamond of its kind to ever be auctioned, according to Sotheby’s.
The sale price breaks down like this: $34 million for the pink diamond alone; $19 million for the setting; and $7 million for an unnamed buyer’s premium. The auction house said it expects “that this will be an all-time record price per carat for any precious stone.”
Williamson Pink Star was discovered in 1990 at the Williamson mine in Tanzania by De Beers’ African subsidiary Anglo American Diamond Corporation (now De Beers Consolidated Mining Company) during an exploration program targeting new deposits of high-quality diamonds at depths below 1,000 meters (3,280 feet).
The stone was cut into a brilliant oval brilliant cut with dimensions of 8×6×4 mm.
The £57.73 million ($71.2 million) sale of a pink diamond to an anonymous bidder at Christie’s in London on Tuesday, October 10, is the most expensive ever per carat, Sotheby’s said.
The Williamson mine, established in 1940, is famous for producing pink diamonds, one of which came into the possession of Queen Elizabeth II, according to Sotheby’s.
The auction house described it as “one of the most highly acclaimed and coveted gems in history.”
Sotheby’s said the diamond was bought by a private collector who wished to remain anonymous.
The CTF Pink Star is one of four stones that made up the Pink Star Diamond Collection purchased by Antoine de Saint-Exupery in 1933 from jeweler Harry Winston. He donated them to Princess Grace of Monaco who later gave them to her late husband Rainier III.
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