Sotheby’s auction house says it has sold a rare pear-shaped vivid pink diamond for a record $31.5 million (R499 million) at an auction in Geneva, Switzerland.
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The diamond, was part of the “Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels” live auction held by worldwide auctioneers Sotheby’s on May 17 in Geneva.
A record price per carat was achieved for a Fancy Purplish Pink diamond ring weighing 8.20 carats that sold for Dollars 3.69 million.
The current record for the sale of a pink diamond was $46.2 million, set five years ago by the “Graff Pink”. It marks the highest price ever paid for a fancy vivid pink diamond.
Sotheby’s said the hammer price, which excludes fees, came in at the low end of the expected pre-auction range of $28 million-$38 million.
However, yesterday’s “Unique Pink” sale eclipsed the previous record for a fancy vivid pink diamond, set by the “Sweet Josephine” auctioned in November past year. “…we are now seeing a growing global set of wealthy individuals from Shanghai to Dubai, who are growing in size and sophistication, who are increasingly recognizing the value of investing in unique items of luxury, including diamonds”.
The 14.62-carat blue diamond, known as the “Oppenheimer Blue”, is estimated at between $38-45 million.
Mr Bennett said there were a few stones that struggled to reach their reserve prices, while others, such as a British collection of jewels by French jeweller Cartier, more than doubled its price.
The record sale for any diamond was $48.5 million of the 12.03-carat polished “Blue Moon” diamond in Geneva earlier this year. “It seems to have paid off”.
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“We think slowly the market is grouping together with people who do believe in strong prices for fancy colored diamonds”. “The trend will move to white diamonds”.
