One of the world’s great natural gems will go up for auction tomorrow, at Sotheby’s magnificent jewels and jadeite auction in Hong Kong. Estimated in excess of US$60 million this 59.60-carat oval mixed-cut pink diamond is the largest Internally Flawless Fancy Vivid Pink diamond that the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has ever graded. and the most valuable cut diamond ever offered at auction, according to Sotheby’s.
The gem received the highest color and clarity grades from GIA for pink diamonds. It is known as Type IIa: stones in this rare group, comprising less than 2% of all gem diamonds, are chemically the purest of all diamond crystals and often have extraordinary optical transparency. Mined by De Beers in Africa in 1999, the 132.5-carat rough diamond was cut and polished over a period of two years. David Bennett, worldwide chairman of Sotheby’s jewelry division, said: “The extraordinary size of this 59.60-carat diamond, paired with its richness of color, surpasses any known pink diamond recorded in history.”
At 59.60 carats, The Pink Star is more than twice the size of the ‘Graff Pink,’ the 24.78-carat Fancy Intense Pink diamond which currently holds the world auction record for any pink diamond. Sold at Sotheby’s Geneva in 2010, for US$46.2 million, the Graff Pink marked an auction record for any diamond or gemstone at the time.
Sotheby’s holds the current price-per-carat auction record for any diamond or gemstone with The Blue Moon of Josephine, a 12.03-carat cushion-shaped Internally Flawless Fancy Vivid Blue diamond that sold for US$48.5 million at Sotheby’s Geneva in 2015. Quek Chin Yeow, deputy Chairman, Asia, and Chairman international jewellery, Asia, said, “Over the years Sotheby’s Hong Kong has played host to many outstanding stones and sales including the 118.28-carat oval D-colour flawless diamond sold in Oct 2013, the still-current world auction record for any white diamond, as well as the fancy vivid blue 10.10-carat De Beers Millennium Jewel 4 which set a record for any jewel sold at auction in Asia in April 2016. The market for the world’s finest diamonds and gem stones remains buoyant and Sotheby’s Hong Kong is honored to present at auction the Pink Star this spring following these world records.”
