A rare diamond known as the Pink Star has been sold in Hong Kong for more than $71m (£57m), setting a new world record for any gemstone at auction.
The oval-shaped 59.6 carat stone was bought after just five minutes' bidding at Sotheby's, easily beating its $60m estimate.
Trending: New 'King of Scotland': Jim Ratcliffe, the English tycoon who'll soon control vast chunks of North Sea oil
The buyer is Hong Kong conglomerate Chow Tai Fook Enterprises, Sotheby's said on Twitter, which has a chain of jewellery stores.
Sotheby's calls it: "One of the world's great natural treasures."
Don't miss: Meet Oliver Schabenberger: The chief technology officer of SAS using analytics to fight fraud
A Geneva auction of the stone in 2013 fetched a world record price of $83m but the buyer, a New York-based diamond cutter Isaac Wolf, and the consortium he led, could not pay up and defaulted on the deal. Sotheby's, who thought they had a successful sale at the time, played the theme music to the Pink Panther film to celebrate.
This led to Sotheby's owning the diamond for several years, however, as the market for large gems has picked up it has again put the diamond up for sale.
Most popular: South Africa's credit rating cut to junk status by S&P amid political instability
The stone is the largest internally flawless vivid pink diamond to be graded by the Gemological Institute of America.
It took dealer Steinmetz Diamonds two years to cut the 59.6-carat jewel, which is as big as a walnut, from a 132.5-carat rough stone after it was mined by De Beers in Botswana in 1999.
The sales price for Pink Star is equal to more than a third of De Beers first quarter diamond cycle sales of $1.9bn.
The record gem sale until now was held by the Oppenheimer Blue, which sold for $50m last May.
Mena: Western Europe should be grateful to Africa because that were most of the real wealth of the European elite come from. Western Europe and Eastern Europe with the exception of Russia have no great mineral wealth most of their their minerals, foods, fuel come from Africa.
I saw so many big African blue, green, pink and yellow diamonds sold for tens of millions of dollar in European auction houses. It is amazing to see how a walnut size pink shiny rock could be worth $71.2 million. Finding a rare diamond in Africa could literally change my life from a working class person to an investor class person. I need a good African connection.
Without the European colonization of the World and the African Slave Trade 500 years African would have been the richest people in the world today who own the biggest bank and corporations in the world. The White Europeans would have become the Africans 9 to 5 slave wage workers. One of the important lesson of history is it is important to make smart rational decisions instead of decisions base on belief system. the second lesson is solidarity is a matter of life and death for a people.
Posts: 5374 | From: sepedat/sirius | Registered: Jul 2012
| IP: Logged |
Stellar purchase! 'Pink Star' diamond the size of a PLUM becomes the world's most expensive jewel after it sells for £57million at auction Pink diamond known as the Pink Star sold for a record-breaking £57million The dazzling 59.60-carat gem was snapped up by a Hong Kong jewellery retailer Comes just three years after another multi-million deal for the gem fell through
Record-breaking: The 59.60-carat gem, known as the Pink Star, sold for £57million today
Dazzling: The gemstone, discovered in South Africa in 1999, is roughly the size of a plum
Perfection': The jewel is regarded as the finest example of a pink diamond ever seen
A pink diamond the size of a plum has become the most expensive jewel ever sold.
The flawless 59.60-carat gem, known as the Pink Star, fetched an eye-watering £57million ($71.2 million) at an auction at Sotheby's Hong Kong on Tuesday evening.
The oval mixed-cut stone was snapped up by local jewellery retailer Chow Tai Fook.
It breaks the record previously held by the Oppenheimer Blue diamond, which sold for £46million ($57.5 million) at Christie's in Geneva last May.
Record-breaking: The 59.60-carat gem, known as the Pink Star, sold for £57million today +3 Record-breaking: The 59.60-carat gem, known as the Pink Star, sold for £57million today
Dazzling: The gemstone, discovered in South Africa in 1999, is roughly the size of a plum +3 Dazzling: The gemstone, discovered in South Africa in 1999, is roughly the size of a plum
The sale comes three years after the Pink Star was sold at another Sotheby's auction in Geneva in a deal that later fell apart.
New York-based diamond cutter Isaac Wolf and a group of investors paid a then record-breaking £67million ($83million) for the gem but defaulted on the payment.
RELATED ARTICLES Previous 1 Next
The VERY clever ways to drop a dress size without even...
She's the Duchess' double! Beautician spends £7,000...
Put down that jacket potato! How your ordinary office lunch...
Camilla wears gold in nod to new 'relaxed' dress code at the... SHARE THIS ARTICLE Share 3.2k shares The auction house was forced to buy the oval mixed-cut diamond from the seller because it had guaranteed a £48million ($60 million) sale price.
Sotheby's decided the time was right to bring the diamond back to the market because of rising demand from wealthy Asian buyers.
Huge £57million diamond is the world's most expensive jewel Loaded: 0%Progress: 0%0:00 Previous Play Skip Mute Current Time 0:00 / Duration Time 1:06 Fullscreen Need Text 'Perfection': The jewel is regarded as the finest example of a pink diamond ever seen +3 'Perfection': The jewel is regarded as the finest example of a pink diamond ever seen
David Bennett, chairman of the auction house's jewelry division, said: 'The Asian element in the jewelry market is extremely important and from what I've been hearing from members of the trade I've been talking to, in the last six months they have become more and more important.'
DULLED SHINE: THE OPPENHEIMER BLUE
The record for the world's most expensive jewel was previously held by the Oppenheimer Blue diamond.
After a tense bidding war, it sold for £46million ($57.5 million) at Christie's in Geneva last May.
The rare rectangular-cut stone previously belonged to Sir Philip Oppenheimer, who controlled the Diamond Syndicate in London.
Former glory: The Oppenheimer Blue Former glory: The Oppenheimer Blue
The gem is the largest flawless fancy vivid pink diamond ever graded by the Gemological Institute of America.
It was sold for a hammer price of $63.0 million not including the buyer's premium, smashing the $60million estimate.
The Pink Star was mined in Africa by De Beers in 1999 as a raw 132.5 carat gem and cut over a two-year period.
Prior to the sale Mr Bennett said: 'The extraordinary size of this 59.60-carat diamond, paired with its richness of colour, surpasses any known pink diamond recorded in history.'
One industry expert today described The Pink Star as 'pure diamond perfection'.
Tobias Kormind, managing director of 77Diamonds.com, said: 'The Pink Star has returned to rock the diamond world - and for all the right reasons.
'The stone is absolutely unique and incredibly rare, being the largest Vivid Pink Internally Flawless diamond ever graded by the GIA. It is pure diamond perfection.'
Posts: 5374 | From: sepedat/sirius | Registered: Jul 2012
| IP: Logged |
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic