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‘Incomparable’ $50 mn pink diamond smashes record at Geneva auction
GENEVA, Nov 14, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – An exceptionally rare pink diamond of
nearly 19 carats fetched 50.3 million Swiss francs ($50 million, 44 million
euros) at auction in Geneva Tuesday, Christie’s said, setting a new per-carat
record for a stone of its kind.
The Pink Legacy, which once belonged to the Oppenheimer family who for
decades ran the De Beers diamond-mining company, was snapped up by American
luxury brand Harry Winston, part of the Swiss Swatch group.
“$2.6 million per carat. That is a world record per carat for a pink
diamond,” said Francois Curiel, head of Christie’s in Europe, of the price
that included all fees and commissions.
“This stone is for me the Leonardo da Vinci of diamonds.”
The 18.96-carat diamond was discovered in a South African mine around a
century ago, Christie’s said. It was probably cut in the 1920s and has not
been altered since.
The stone was immediately rechristened the “Winston Pink Legacy” by its
buyers.
Christie’s international head of jewellery, Rahul Kadakia, described it as
“one of the world’s greatest diamonds”.
The rectangular-cut stone has been graded “fancy vivid” — the highest
possible grade of colour intensity — as it has no trace of another hue like
purple, orange or brown.
Most pink diamonds weigh less than one carat and those in the top colour
category with more than 10 carats are virtually unheard of at auction houses.
The Pink Legacy is classed as Type IIa, meaning it is extremely chemically
pure, a category only two percent of diamonds fall into.
“These are stones that have little if any trace of nitrogen,” said
Kadakia, adding that this often gives Type IIa diamonds “exceptional
transparency and brilliance”.
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– Emerald cut –
“Imagine a domino that you have cut the corners off of,” Jean-Marc Lunel,
an international jewellery specialist at Christie’s, recently told AFP,
describing the stone’s unusual shape.
He pointed out that the diamond has a “classical so-called emerald cut” —
standing out from the typical cuts used today, which are more rounded and
multi-faceted.
The classic rectangular cut is traditionally used for white stones, but is
rare for pink diamonds.
Christie’s said the Pink Legacy is “the largest and finest Fancy Vivid
Pink diamond ever offered at auction by the company”, calling the stone
“incomparable”.
“It is probably the most beautiful (specimen) ever presented at public
auction,” Lunel said.
Christie’s said only four vivid pink diamonds of over 10 carats have ever
been offered at auction.
One of them, the nearly 15-carat Pink Promise, was sold last November at a
Christie’s auction in Hong Kong for $32.5 million.
That amounts to $2.176 million per carat, which was previously the world
auction record price per carat for any pink diamond.
The Pink Legacy’s record-smashing price accounted for nearly half the
takings at Tuesday’s auction, which saw total sales of more than $110
million, according to Christie’s spokeswoman Alexandra Kindermann.
While 86 percent of the lots found a buyer, a big heart-shaped white
diamond of 53 carats, expected to fetch around $3 to 5 million, went unsold.
Another Geneva auction is set cause a buzz on Wednesday when Marie
Antoinette’s diamonds and pearls go under the hammer at Sotheby’s.
The dazzling treasures, which have not been seen in public for two
centuries, are part of a 100-piece collection held by the Italian royal House
of Bourbon-Parma.
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