An 8.41-carat pear-shaped internally flawless fancy vivid purple-pink diamond is being priced to set a world-auction record for price per carat. It will appear as the top lot at the Sotheby’s Hong Kong Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite Autumn Sale on October 7.
The diamond is expected to fetch $12.8 to $15.4 million, or a high estimate of more than $1.8 million per carat, the highest per-carat pre-sale estimate for any pink diamond to date, according to the international auction house.
It is “arguably the most desirable pink diamond to appear at auction in recent years,” Sotheby’s said in a statement. Internally flawless vivid or fancy intense pink diamonds of more than 8 carats are “virtually unseen.”
“This color is one of the most beautiful and concentrated shades of pink in diamonds that I have seen and, combined with the exceptional clarity, it is not surprising that it would command the highest per-carat pre-sale estimate for any pink diamond to date,” said Quek Chin Yeow, deputy chairman, Asia, and chairman international Jewellery, Asia.
The unmounted purple-pink diamond was cut from a 19.54-carat rough mined by De Beers, with the final cutting completed in New York. It will tour Singapore, Taipei, New York, London, Geneva and Hong Kong prior to the auction.
The current record price ever paid at auction for a diamond, or any gemstone, is the Graff Pink, a 24.76-carat, Fancy Intense pink diamond, purchased by Lawrence Graff in November 2010 for more than $46.1 million. The record price per carat for a fancy vivid pink diamond is more than $2.1 million per carat set by a 5-carat diamond, sold in Hong Kong in January 2009 for more than$10.7 million
Pink diamonds have been coveted by rulers and prized by connoisseurs since they were first discovered in the mines of India centuries ago. Many of the great gems of history are pink diamonds, including the Williamson presented to Queen Elizabeth II at her wedding, the Hortense from the Crown Jewels of France, the Darya-i-Nur from the Iranian Crown Jewels and the Agra documented as having belonged to Babur, founder of the Mogul Empire.
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