Editor’s Note
The ‘Pink Star,’ the world’s largest vivid pink diamond, has set a new auction record, selling for $71 million at Sotheby’s Hong Kong. This historic sale underscores the enduring allure and immense value of the world’s rarest gemstones.
(Photo source=EPA)
The world’s largest pink diamond, the ‘Pink Star’, was sold for a record-breaking $71 million (approximately 80 billion won) at a Sotheby’s auction in Hong Kong on April 4 (local time).
According to foreign media reports including the BBC on April 4 (local time), the 59.6-carat Pink Star was sold to Hong Kong jewelry retailer Chow Tai Fook after a bidding war among three telephone bidders, starting from an initial price of $56 million.
The winning bid for the Pink Star surpassed the previous record set in May when the 14.62-carat blue diamond ‘Oppenheimer Blue’ was sold for $58 million (approximately 68.1 billion won) at a Christie’s auction in New York, making it the most expensive jewel ever sold at auction.
Chow Tai Fook, which acquired the Pink Star this time, is the world’s largest jewelry retailer, founded in 1929, operating over 2,000 stores across China. Henry Cheng, Chairman of Chow Tai Fook, is ranked as the 9th wealthiest individual in the ‘2017 Hurun Global Chinese Rich List’.
The Pink Star was discovered by diamond company De Beers in a mine in Africa in 1999, originally as a 132-carat rough stone. After two years of cutting and polishing, it emerged as a 59.6-carat diamond for auction. Previously, in a 2013 Sotheby’s auction, it was sold to New York diamond cutter Isaac Wolf for $83 million, but the sale was canceled after Wolf failed to make the payment.