Purchased by a Private Collector Based in Boca Raton, Florida,
The Diamond Becomes the Second Most Valuable Jewel or Gemstone Ever Sold at Auction & Establishes a World Auction Record Price Per Carat for any Diamond or Gemstone
At Sotheby’s Hong Kong, one of the world’s purest and most saturated pink diamonds sold for an outstanding HK$453.2 million / US$57.7 million on October 7, 2022, in an unprecedented single-lot live auction.
Picture credit: Sotheby’s
The 11.15 carat cushion-shaped Fancy Vivid Pink Internally Flawless diamond attracted enormous interest and a flurry of bids, taking it – over the course of a full 20-minute bidding battle – from an opening bid of HK$170 million to well over HK$390 million. The winning bid came in the room from a private client in the United States.
The final price achieved (HK$453,223,000 / US$57,736,078) places The Rosenberg Williamson Pink Star as the second most valuable jewel or gemstone ever sold at auction, just behind the record-breaking CTF Pink Star, the 59.60-carat oval mixed-cut diamond, which sold at Sotheby’s for US$71.2 million in April 2017, and still holds the world auction record for any diamond, gemstone or jewel. Today’s result also established a world record price per carat for any diamond or gemstone (US$5,178,124) which was previously held by The Blue Moon of Josephine, an Internally Flawless Fancy Vivid Blue cushion-shaped 12.03 diamond sold by Sotheby’s Geneva in November 2015.
Commenting on the sale of the Williamson Pink Star, Wenhao Yu, Chairman of Jewellery and Watches at Sotheby’s Asia, said: “What an honour to have had the opportunity to handle a diamond of such breathtaking beauty. One of the purest, pinkest of diamonds, The Williamson Pink Star now takes its place in the pantheon of world record-breaking gemstones of the rarest kind – as the second highest price achieved for any jewel or gemstone sold at auction. The result today not only attests to the resilient demand for top quality diamonds in Asia, but a heightened awareness of the great scarcity of pink diamonds driven by an ever-limited supply.”
