“Unbelievable” Pink Diamond Sets Auction Record

An exquisite pink colored diamond was sold at auction last week for more than US$65 million, beating the previous per-carat sales record set by a pink diamond.

The 18.96-carat Pink Legacy was brought to auction by Christie’s Geneva as part of the Magnificent Jewels sale, which included 300 gems in various tones, sizes and shapes.

As the largest fancy vivid pink diamond ever put on the auction block, Christie’s had expected the rare stone to bring in anywhere between US$30-US$50 million.

Famed jeweler Harry Winston registered the winning bid of US$44.5 million, roughly US$3.6 million per carat, not including fees and a buyer’s premium. Upon purchase, the immense rose colored gem was renamed the Winston Pink Legacy.

“The saturation, the intensity of this stone is as good as it gets in a colored diamond,” Rahul Kadakia, International Head of Jewelry, said in the announcement.

“To find a diamond of this size with this color is pretty much unreal. You may see this color in a pink diamond of less than one carat. But this is almost 19 carats and it’s as pink as can be. It’s unbelievable.”

The previous auction house record set by a pink diamond was last year’s sale of the 14.93-carat Pink Promise. When put on auction in November of 2017, it raised a total of US$32.48 million, approximately US$2 million per carat.

Aside from being the largest pink diamond ever sold, the newly named Winston Pink Legacy also features a unique traditional emerald cut, making it even more desirable and exclusive.

“Attaining a fancy vivid color grade with pink diamonds in this shape requires the strongest ‘body-color’ in the rough crystal,” noted the Gemological Institute of America. “It is unusual for pink diamonds to occur with a strong depth of color and saturation in any size.”

The stone, which was discovered in South Africa, was first cut in 1920. The gem belonged to the owners of diamond major De Beers, before it became part of the Oppenheimer family collection.

Image courtesy of Christie’s Geneva.

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