Culture / Auctions

Jewellery auctions in Hong Kong: A rare pink diamond ring is up for sale at Sotheby’s

Impressive in size, clarity and price, the rare pink diamond is set to go to auction in Sotheby’s Hong Kong

Mar 30, 2017 | By Vimi Haridasan

If you’ve been waiting for the perfect pink diamond ring to present itself, you may find what you’re looking for in one of the biggest jewellery auctions in Hong Kong. On April 4, Sotheby’s Hong Kong is holding a Magnificent Jewels and jadeite sale, and one of the items on the auction list is a 59.60 carat “Pink Star” diamond worth more than US$83 million.

Lauded as the largest internally flawless fancy vivid pink diamond to have been graded by the Gemological Institute of America, it is undoubtedly a prize catch. This is not the first time that the auction house has had possession of the gem. In fact, back in 2013 a gem cutter named Issac Wolf purchased the diamond from Sotheby’s Geneva for US$83 million only to default on the payment to the auction house.

Having bought it back for US$60 million, Sotheby’s is expecting it to set yet another record with the sale. What makes this diamond one that stands out from the rest is more than the price tag. For one it is a Type IIa, which we hear is an uncommon grading for a pink diamond. Along with that, is the size and colour of the gem that will have you enthralled. Before it hit the auction block though, the “Pink Star” was a part of the 132.5 –carat rough diamond that had been mined by the famed diamond producers De Beers in 1999. Now it sits mounted on a ring ready to be worn after two years of cutting and polishing. We wait to see if the plum-sized gem will set a new record in 2017.

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