World’s Largest Orange Diamond Sells for $36 Million at Auction

The world’s largest fancy vivid orange diamond recently sold for $36 million in an auction held by Christie’s International. The VS1 clarity 14.82-carat pear-shaped stone is the largest orange diamond to ever appear in auction.

“There are buyers out there for these great rarities,” auctioneer David Bennett told Bloomberg News. “There are moments to offer these things and there are moments when it just doesn’t feel right. This does feel like one of the right moments.”

Though pink and blue diamonds are often up for bidding, orange stones are much, much rarer. The last high-quality orange diamond to hit the auction block—a 5.54 gem known as “The Pumpkin Diamond”—sold for $1.3 million at Sotheby’s in 1997.

Photo credit: Christie’s