Color, purity, weight and size are the four factors that determine the value of a , and Pink Star meets the highest standards in every part. This piece was sold in 2017 for 71.2 million dollars to an Asian buyer, and the record for the most expensive auctioned jewel in history has not yet been raised.
It is an intense pink diamond, of 59.60 carats, with a size of 2.69 by 2.06 centimeters, oval in shape and free of impurities, which has received the highest qualification in color and quality by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), and which, furthermore, is within a 2% subgroup of diamonds known as Type Ila, which are chemically the purest and have extraordinary optical transparency. And it is that, since they were discovered in the mines of India several centuries ago, pink diamonds have been among the most coveted and appreciated by experts, which is why some of the most important stones in history, such as the Williamson , the Hortense, the Darya-i-Nur and the Agra, are of this same color.
‘Pink Star’.
The Pink Star stone was mined by the De Beers group, the world’s largest diamond company, in Africa in 1999. The diamond comes from a 132.5-carat rough stone, which took more than two years to cut and polished in the Steinmetz workshop.
The auction of this impressive jewel was held at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, in a room where more than 200 buyers were present. However, and in less than ten minutes, it was Chow Tai Fook Enterprises, one of the most important Hong Kong conglomerates in the jewelery, casino and real estate sectors, who won it over the phone.
a long journey
Before reaching the hands of the Asian tycoon, this jewel had been seen on different occasions, and even had a quasi-buyer in 2013. In 2003, it was shown to the world for the first time in Monaco. In the same year, it was exhibited at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, along with seven other unpublished jewels, such as the De Beers Millennium Star, Allnatt and the Moussaieff Red. Later, between 2005 and 2006, Pink Star was the main attraction of the Diamonds exhibition, at the Natural History Museum in London. In 2013, the ring was auctioned for the first time at Sotheby’s Geneva auction house, Switzerland, the place where many large auction market operations are executed. Thus, the piece was sold to an American buyer for an even higher figure than the current one, since it reached 83 million dollars, but the client never completed the transaction.
Before Pink Star, the record was held by The Graff Pink, a 24.78-carat intense pink diamond, type Ila, which was auctioned in 2010 for $46.2 million.
Some of the most expensive jewelry in the world
The ten most expensive pieces ever sold in Sotheby’s auction rooms have found buyers in the last ten years. With bids made in its most important venues (Geneva, New York and Hong Kong), these precious stones are now in the hands of collectors around the world. Some of them, in their different categories, have not yet found a competitor or sale that surpasses them.
White diamond
Only 10 white diamonds over 100 carats have ever been sold at auction. Six of them at Sotheby’s, and five in the last ten years. In 2013 at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, a 118.28-carat diamond with coveted “D Color” and flawless clarity broke a new auction record when it fetched a price of $30 million.
White diamond.
Also, in April 2018, a flawless, perfect round brilliant of 102.34 carats, and the largest ever graded by the Gemological Institute of America, was sold privately by Sotheby’s Diamonds, the company’s boutique diamond retailer. finest in the world.
Sunrise Ruby
Outside of the world of high-quality diamonds, the last decade has also marked impressive results at auction for gemstones. To date, the most valuable has been the Sunrise Ruby, a “Dove’s Blood” colored Burmese ruby weighing 25.59 carats, which tripled the price of the previous one when it sold for $30.3 million, and still holds the world record in the auction of any ruby.
‘Sunrise Ruby’.
‘Donnersmarck Tiara’
This gem was described in 2011 as “one of the greatest pieces to come on sale in over 30 years.” Known as the ‘Donnersmarck Tiara’ -because before it came to Sotheby’s, it was in the cabinets of Princess Katharina Henckel von Donnersmarck’s collection-, this piece set a new world auction record for a tiara, when it sold at Sotheby’s Geneva for 12.7 million dollars. And it has not yet been surpassed.
‘Donnersmarck Tiara’
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