Pink Diamond Sells for $46 million, Setting a World Auction Record
Sotheby's Geneva set a world auction record for any diamond and any jewel today when it sold an exceptionally rare and magnificent Fancy Intense Pink Emerald-cut Diamond. Weighing in at 24.78 Carats, the ring sold for for $46,158,674, well above the pre-sale estimate of $27 million to $38 million.
Four bidders competed for the gem, which is considered to be one of the most important and beautiful stones ever to come up for auction. The stone came to the market from a private collection, and has not appeared on the open market since it was purchased some 60 years ago from Mr. Harry Winston (who's namesake company won the Luxist Awards' Readers Choice Award for best jewelry line).
The diamond was bought by Patti Wong, Sotheby's Chairman in Asia, bidding on behalf of Laurence Graff, the British billionaire jeweler to the stars (and a Luxist Awards nominee for best jewelry line). Shortly after the sale, Laurence Graff named the diamond "The Graff Pink" and made the following statement: "It is the most fabulous diamond I've seen in the history of my career and I'm delighted to have bought it."
The diamond is considered to be outstanding with exceptional color and purity. The classic emerald-cut stone is also more valuable because of the scarcity of fine pink diamonds exceeding 20 carats in size. The diamond is currently mounted as a ring. It is classified as type IIa, which comprises less than 2 percent of all of the world's gem diamonds.
Today's record sale of Magnificent Jewels concluded with an exceptional total of $105 million, a figure well above pre-sale expectations and the highest total for any jewelry auction ever held. Bidders from all corners of the world were out in force, bringing overall sell-through rates of 82% by lot and 94% by value. Top prices were achieved for important white diamonds, rare colored stones, jewels with important provenance and exceptional signed pieces.
