“The Pink Star” diamond could fetch in excess of $60 million
GENEVA, September 25, 2013 – Sotheby’s Geneva will present The Pink Star, the most valuable diamond ever to be offered at auction, in its sale of Magnificent Jewels on 13 November 2013.
Estimated in excess of $60 million, this 59.60-carat oval cut pink diamond is the largest internally flawless fancy vivid pink diamond that the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has ever graded.
Not only has The Pink Star received the highest colour and clarity grades from the GIA for pink diamonds, it has also been found to be part of the rare subgroup comprising less than 2 % of all gem diamonds – known as Type IIa: stones in this group are chemically the purest of all diamond crystals and often have extraordinary optical transparency.
In addition, this extraordinarily important gem is more than twice the size of the magnificent ‘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 $46.2 million at Sotheby’s Geneva in 2010.
The current record price per carat for a pink diamond ($2,155,332) was set by a 5-carat fancy vivid pink diamond.
The 132.5 carat rough diamond was mined in 1999 in Africa and painstakingly cut and polished by Steinmetz Diamonds over a period of two years and transformed into this stunning gemstone.
Unveiled to the press and public as the ‘Steinmetz Pink’ in Monaco in 2003, the stone was first sold in 2007 and subsequently renamed ‘The Pink Star’.
The sale of The Pink Star continues Sotheby’s tradition of bringing some of the rarest and most extraordinary objects to market.
Sotheby’s Geneva has sold a number of the most valuable diamonds in the world and holds the current world auction record for a diamond and any gemstone or jewel since the sale of the ‘Graff Pink’ – an exceptionally rare and truly magnificent Fancy Intense Pink diamond of the purest, vibrant hue, weighing 24.78 carats for CHF 45.4 million ($46.2 million).
Given the global interest in a treasure of this nature, The Pink Star will be showcased on a worldwide tour, travelling to cities including Hong Kong, New York, London, Zurich and Geneva where it will be auctioned on November 13th.
