Editor’s Note
A rare pink diamond named “The Glowing Rose” is expected to fetch around $20 million at a Sotheby’s auction in Geneva this Wednesday. This piece highlights the enduring allure and extraordinary value of exceptional gemstones in the high-stakes world of luxury auctions.
A rare pink diamond is set to be auctioned on Wednesday and is expected to sell for around $20 million (£15.3 million). “The Glowing Rose” will be auctioned as part of Sotheby’s high jewellery sale at the Mandarin Oriental in Geneva.
Ahead of the sale, Sotheby’s said it expected the 10.08-carat vivid pink diamond to fetch in the region of $20 million. The auction house said that The Glowing Rose is only the third vivid pink cushion cut diamond weighing over 10 carats to come to market in a decade.
The diamond was named after its luminous and pure pink colour, which Sotheby’s said is “a supremely rare occurrence as most pink diamonds display secondary modifying hues”.
According to Sotheby’s, the formation of pink diamonds is still not fully understood. Yellow diamonds get their colour from traces of nitrogen, and blue diamonds get their hue from the presence of boron. In the case of pink diamonds, it is thought that their colour is a result of stress at an atomic level.
Less than 0.01% of all diamonds are coloured diamonds and pink is one of the rarest naturally occurring colours.
The Glowing Rose has a type IIa classification, which indicates that it has no detectable levels of nitrogen traces in its crystal lattice and is found to result in high optical clarity.
Sotheby’s said that The Glowing Rose comes from a 21-carat rough diamond extracted in 2023 from a mine in Angola.
Pop star Taylor Swift’s engagement ring from American football player Travis Kelce recently put the cushion-cut style diamond back in the spotlight.
Ahead of the auction, The Glowing Rose was exhibited in Singapore and Taipei in a presentation mount designed by British heritage jeweller Boodles.
Examples of multimillion-dollar sales of other fancy vivid pink diamonds include the “The Pink Star”, which fetched $71.2 million at a Sotheby’s auction in Hong Kong in 2017.
Meanwhile, “The Williamson Pink Star” sold for $57.7 million at another Sotheby’s auction in 2022.