The largest known fancy vivid pink diamond in world – The Pink Star – has been auctioned for a world record-breaking $89 million at Sotheby’s sale of ‘Magnificent Jewels’ in Geneva.
New York diamond cutter Isaac Wolf made the winning bid of 76 million francs (approximately Aus$89 million) and then renamed the stone ‘Pink Dream’.
Weighing 59.60 carats, the oval-cut Type IIa diamond is the largest flawless or internally flawless, fancy vivid pink diamond that the Gemological Institute of America has ever graded.
The diamond is in fact more than twice the size of the Graff Pink – the 24.78 carat fancy intense pink diamond – which established a world auction record for a diamond and any gemstone or jewel at US$46.2 million in 2010.
Speaking prior to the auction David Bennett, chairman of Sotheby’s jewellery division in Europe and the Middle East, said the diamond is one of the earth’s greatest national treasures.
“I have had the privilege of examining some of the greatest gemstones in the world over the past 35 years, and I can say, without hesitation, that The Pink Star diamond is of immense importance.
“Its exceptional richness of colour (graded as ‘vivid pink’ by the Gemological Institute of America) combined with its extraordinary size, are characteristics that surpass those of any known pink diamond in state, royal, or private collections.
“It is difficult to exaggerate the rarity of vivid pink diamonds weighing only five carats, so this 59.60 carat stone is simply off any scale, and passes, I believe, into the ranks of the earth’s greatest natural treasures.”
The 132.5 carat rough diamond was mined by De Beers in Africa in 1999 and cut and polished by Steinmetz Diamonds over a period of two years before being unveiled to the press and the public as the ‘Steinmetz Pink’ in Monaco in 2003.
It was then sold in 2007 and subsequently renamed ‘The Pink Star’.