The largest known fancy vivid pink diamond in world – The Pink Star – is set to break auction records when it goes under the hammer at Sotheby’s in Geneva next month.
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.
David Bennett, chairman of Sotheby’s jewellery division in Europe and the Middle East, told Reuters that the diamond could fetch more than $60 million as collectors chase exceptional pieces in a strong international jewellery market.
“It is full of fire and light. If it sells it will be a record price for any gemstone so far at auction,” he said.
“The top-end in all categories in auction prices are very, very strong. People are seeking the very rare, the exceptional, the outstanding. This stone is.”
“You can’t take your eyes off it… It is difficult to exaggerate the rarity of vivid pink diamonds weighing only five carats, so this 59.60 carat stone is simply off the scale, and passes, I believe, into the ranks of the earth’s greatest natural treasures.”
The Pink Star will head the Magnificent Jewels sale at Sotheby’s Geneva on November 13.