In an public sale that ended moments in the past, the 11.15-carat Williamson Pink Star diamond offered for about $57.7 million (together with the public sale premium) at Sotheby’s Hong Kong. Its per carat value of greater than $5 million shattered the earlier public sale document. It’s the second most precious jewel or gemstone ever offered at public sale.

It took roughly 20 agonizing minutes for the second largest internally flawless fancy vivid pink diamond to ever seem at public sale to be offered in a stand-alone sale, as seen by means of Sotheby’s dwell stream.

There have been a number of individuals bidding on the diamond on the Hong Kong Conference and Exhibition Centre the place the public sale was held and by telephone. Actioner Ian McGinlay opened the bidding at HKD$140 million and bids slowly rose to HKD$165 million. Longer pauses on the bids began at HKD$200 million. Bidding was lowered to 1 particular person within the room and two telephone bidders. Bidding proceeded slowly in increments of HKD5 million till it reached HKD300 million, adopted by applause. However nonetheless bidding continued among the many three members. As soon as bids reached an astounding hammer value of HKD$392 million ($50 million) to the room bidder, the public sale closed to applause. The ultimate value contains the consumers’ premium.

The earlier value per carat public sale document for a flowery vivid pink diamond was $2,656,909 for the 18.96-carat Winston Pink Legacy, offered in 2018.

Wenhao Yu, chairman of Jewelry and Watches at Sotheby’s Asia, instructed Forbes previous to the sale that the cushion-shaped diamond “has the most effective qualities you may have in a pink diamond.” He additionally in contrast the diamond to an distinctive murals, which is why it was supplied between Sotheby’s Hong Kong trendy and modern artwork auctions.

The diamond was named after the Williamson Mine in Tanzania, the place it was unearthed. It is without doubt one of the oldest working diamond mines on the earth, well-known for producing what’s described as “bubblegum pink” diamonds, in response to the public sale home. Among the finest-known diamonds from the mine is the 23.6-carat Williamson Pink Diamond long-established right into a brooch by Cartier and owned by Queen Elizabeth II.

The Williamson Pink Star was crafted from a 32.32-carat tough diamond by Diacore, a diamond producer that focuses on crafting uncommon, distinctive fancy-colored diamonds. The corporate bought the gem in late 2021 for $13.8 million. Yu says crafting the diamond is simply as necessary as discovering it, and Diacore is without doubt one of the few corporations on the earth able to slicing and sprucing such an necessary gem.

“It’s luck to search out this type of diamond that was fashioned underground for thousands and thousands of years, and it takes a large amount of artwork and creativity to vogue it into a beautiful stone with so many distinctive qualities,” Yu mentioned.

Pink diamonds are among the many rarest colours to happen naturally in diamonds. Of all of the diamonds submitted to the Gemological Institute of America (which analyzes and grades diamonds), fewer than 3% are categorised as coloured diamonds, and fewer than 5% of these are thought of predominantly pink.

The Argyle Mine in Australia, earlier than it was retired in 2020 after exhausting its provide of gem-quality diamonds, produced greater than 90% of the world’s pink diamonds. The absence of pink diamonds from this mine makes necessary pink diamonds just like the one being supplied much more uncommon, Yu says.

The diamond was offered on an 18k gold ring flanked by trapeze-cut diamonds and embellished with brilliant-cut diamonds.

The most important internally flawless, fancy vivid pink diamond ever supplied at public sale is the 59.60-carat CTF Pink Star, which was offered by Sotheby’s Hong Kong in 2017 for $71.2 million, a world document for any gem or jewel offered at public sale.