Editor’s Note
This article reports on the record-breaking auction of a 16.09-carat pink diamond, highlighting its rarity and the significant price achieved.
The auction house Christie’s inaugurated the high jewelry sales in Geneva on Tuesday evening with a 16.09-carat cushion-cut pink diamond, the largest of its kind ever auctioned, which sold for 26.6 million euros.
This diamond, named “In the Pink”, is certified “Fancy vivid Pink” by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). The buyer remained anonymous.
According to Christie’s, this is an exceptionally rare stone, as in 250 years, only three “Fancy vivid” pink diamonds over 10 carats have been offered for sale.
Colored diamonds, once considered a curiosity in the 1960s, are increasingly sought after by collectors.
The pink color of the diamond remains a mystery. According to some experts, the stones may have been exposed to both extreme heat and immense pressure.
However, it is the American rival house, Sotheby’s, that will offer the most expensive diamond of these sales on Wednesday evening. It is a blue diamond, named the “Blue Moon Diamond”, estimated by the auction house to be worth between 35 and 55 million dollars, a potential world record for its category.
Weighing 12.03 carats and cushion-shaped, this diamond has been certified “Fancy vivid blue” by the Gemological Institute of America, the rarest and most coveted color for a blue diamond, according to Sotheby’s.
It is the largest cushion-shaped blue diamond ever offered at auction. Its discovery in the Cullinan mine in South Africa was announced in January 2014 by Petra Diamonds, the mine’s owner.
The world record for a diamond and a piece of jewelry sold at auction is still held since November 2010 by the Graff Pink, a 24.78-carat “Fancy Intense Pink” diamond sold by Sotheby’s in Geneva for 46.15 million dollars.
For more modest bidders, Christie’s is auctioning a diamond and platinum brooch, given by the French actor and director Sacha Guitry (1885-1957) to his fifth wife, Lana Marconi, with an estimated price between 32,000 and 42,000 dollars.
The kick-off for these November Geneva auctions was given this weekend, with exceptional watches offered by the houses Antiquorum and Phillips.
Collectors from around the world participated, with a total of 6.11 million Swiss francs (5.65 million euros) for 319 watches at Antiquorum and 27.84 million Swiss francs (25.61 million euros) at Phillips, including five watches sold for over a million and a Patek Philippe fetched for 3 million euros.
For these items on sale, a connection with a celebrity immediately drives up prices.
The famous 1972 Rolex Submariner watch worn by Roger Moore in the James Bond film “Live and Let Die” was thus sold on Sunday in Geneva for 335,000 euros (fees included) by the auction house Phillips.
A nice capital gain for its anonymous owner, as it had been acquired for 182,000 euros in November 2011 also from Christie’s in Geneva.
On Wednesday, it will be seen if there is indeed a “James Bond premium,” with actor Sean Connery putting two pieces of jewelry up for sale at Sotheby’s: a 15.4-carat orange-pink diamond, estimated between 1.2 and 2.4 million dollars, and a 5.18-carat diamond ring, estimated between 150,000 and 250,000 dollars.
