Pink Star Diamond Expected to Sell for Record Price at Auction

Editor’s note — the Pink Star diamond sold for a record $71.2 million on April 4, 2017. 
The famous Pink Star diamond is expected to sell for over $60 million next month, becoming the most expensive diamond ever auctioned.
The 59.6-carat diamond, the largest internally flawless fancy vivid pink diamond ever graded by the Gemological Institute of America, will be auctioned by Sotheby’s (NYSE:BID) at its sale in Hong Kong on April 4.
At the moment, the world’s most valuable diamond sold at auction is the 14.62-carat Oppenheimer Blue, which sold for more than $57.5 million at Christie’s sale in Geneva on May 18, 2016.
“At a time of unprecedented demand for the finest in colored diamonds, I am delighted to be bringing this magnificent stone back to the market,” said David Bennett, chairman of Sotheby’s jewelry division, regarding the Pink Star.
He added, “[t]he extraordinary size of this 59.60-carat diamond, paired with its richness of color, surpasses any known pink diamond recorded in history.”
The Pink Star was cut from a 132.5-carat rough diamond mined by Anglo American’s (LSE:AAL) De Beers in Africa in 1999. It took two years of meticulous cutting and polishing to hone it into its current oval shape.
The diamond was sold to diamond cutter Isaac Wolf for a remarkable $83 million at a Geneva Sotheby’s auction in November 2013. That remains the highest price a diamond has ever been sold for to this day.

But the stone was returned to Sotheby’s after Wolf and his investors defaulted the payment. Since June 2016, the Pink Star has been jointly owned by Sotheby’s and Diacore and Mellen Diamonds, and has been held in Sotheby’s inventory.
The rising value of fancy colored diamonds, paired with soaring demand, is attracting more investors into the hard-asset marketplace, a trend that has been noted by Paragon International Wealth Management.
“In just the last eight years alone, the price of pink diamonds has grown by nearly 180 percent and currently sits at a record high,” Paragon reports.
Scarcity is expected to heighten in coming years as Australia’s Argyle mine, which has been one of the most productive diamond mines in the world, faces an uncertain future. The mine is home to the only known significant source of fancy pink diamonds and is responsible for 90 to 95 percent of global supply.
“Many new investors who have no history in the fancy colored diamond market are now deciding to invest in this portable asset class, giving wealthy collectors more competition as they vie for fancy colored diamonds to add to their collections,” Paragon adds in its report.
The Pink Star will be on display at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center from March 29 to April 3 before going under the hammer on April 4. For a glimpse of what the lucky buyer will be purchasing, check out the video below:

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Securities Disclosure: I, Priscila Barrera, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.