GENEVA, November 16, 2010 – Sotheby’s sold a rare pink diamond for 45.44 million Swiss francs ($45.75 million) today, smashing the previous record to become the most expensive stone sold at auction.
The rectangular pink diamond, which weighs 24.78 carats, was the star lot among 550 at a semi-annual “magnificent jewellery” sale in Geneva.
Top diamond trader Laurence Graff was the buyer, bidding by telephone, a Sotheby’s official said.
The stone, bought from jeweller Harry Winston 60 years ago by the anonymous owner who consigned it for auction, had a pre-sale estimate of $27-38 million.
Previously, the world’s most expensive jewel sold at auction was the “Wittelsbach” blue diamond, a 17th-century stone of 35.56 carats that fetched $24.3 million in December 2008 at Christie’s. That was also purchased by Graff.
