Editor’s Note
This article explores the record-breaking 2017 auction of the Pink Star diamond, detailing the factors behind its historic $71.2 million price and its unique characteristics.
Meet the world’s most expensive jewel ever sold at auction.
The CTF Pink Star Diamond (Courtesy of Chow Tai Fook)
The Pink Star Diamond shattered every price record when Sotheby’s sold it for a staggering $71.2 million in April 2017 at a Hong Kong auction. It’s the single most expensive diamond or jewel sold at auction. At 59.60 carats (about the size of a strawberry), the fancy vivid pink internally flawless diamond has none comparable in size and quality. So how can you assess a price for something that is essentially priceless?
Jill Newman is a jewelry authority, editor, and storyteller with over 25 years of experience, having reported from diamond mines in Africa, cutting workshops in India and Belgium, and ateliers around the world.
She serves as Editor-at-Large for the Natural Diamond Council, with additional bylines in The New York Times, Town & Country, Elle Décor, and Robb Report.
Industry experts say it commands top dollar because we won’t see another like it in quality and size—or even close.
The CTF Pink Star Diamond (Courtesy of Sotheby’s Auction House)
Consider the statistics: For the past 30 years, the Argyle mine in Western Australia was the world’s main source of pink diamonds (supplying about 80 percent of pink diamonds), and out of the mine’s 20 million carat annual output, only 0.1% are classified as pink diamonds. What’s more, only a handful of those stones were over a few carats in size. That mine was depleted and closed in 2020. Now the supply of pink diamonds is even more sporadic and rare.
The Pink Star Diamond (Courtesy of Sotheby’s)
The Pink Star was uncovered by De Beers in Africa in 1999. Over a two-year period, the original 132.5 carat rough diamond was meticulously cut and polished and transformed into a flawless vivid pink diamond, type IIa. That means it’s essentially perfect.
It was originally named the Steinmetz Pink after the diamond company that purchased it. Such a rare and beautiful jewel, it was on display at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC.
