-
Pink diamond sells for record $57.7M at Hong Kong auction
A pink diamond was sold for $57.7 million in Hong Kong on Oct. 7, setting a world record for the highest price per carat for a diamond sold at auction, the Associated Press reported.
It said that the 11.15-carat Williamson Pink Star, auctioned by Sotheby’s Hong Kong, fetched close to $5.2 million per carat, exceeding the previous record of $4 million for a blue diamond sold in 2015.
Sotheby’s said that the buyer was a private collector in the United States.
The Williamson Pink Star draws its name from two legendary pink diamonds. The first is the 23.60-carat Williamson Pink Diamond presented to the late Queen Elizabeth II as a wedding gift in 1947, while the second is the 59.60-carat Pink Star that sold for a record $71.2 million at auction in 2017.
The Williamson Pink Star, the second-largest pink diamond to appear at auction, and Queen Elizabeth’s diamond both came from the Williamson mine in Tanzania.
The mine is famous for pink diamonds, which are among the rarest and most valuable of the colored diamonds.
Eyes on Belgium as some EU states push for Russian diamond ban
Tobias Kormind, managing director of 77 Diamonds said: “This is an astounding result, proving the resilience of top diamonds in a shaky economy."
“Hard assets such as world-class diamonds have a history of performing well even in times of instability,” he said, adding that “Some of the world’s highest quality diamonds have seen prices double over the last 10 years.”
Source: ap
