Editor’s Note
This article is part of our ongoing series covering auction results and collecting guides.
1 December 2023
Prices for top-quality, large pink diamonds have increased exponentially in recent years, driven by collector demand and increasingly limited supply. Pink diamonds gain their highly desirable colour as a result of a rare, naturally occurring slippage of the crystal lattice in the stone while it is forming deep within the Earth’s crust. Here we look back at some of the biggest and the best stones and pink diamond rings offered at Christie’s in recent times.
Sold for HK$223,412,500 in 2021
In May 2021 Christie’s offered the largest fancy vivid purple-pink diamond ever to appear at auction. Leading the Magnificent Jewels sale in Hong Kong, ‘The Sakura’ weighs 15.81 carats — almost one carat more than the previous record-holder — and sold for HK$223,412,500.
In the increasingly rarefied world of pink diamonds the size is particularly significant: large rough stones are almost impossible to find and exceedingly difficult to cut.
The stone is also prized for its clarity: while the majority of pink diamonds are graded SI (Slightly Included), and can look hazy even when less included. ‘The Sakura’ is graded Internally Flawless; the pink-purple colour well-balanced and strongly saturated — an exceptionally sweet hue that matches the colour of cherry blossom. In other words, it’s not only a large and striking diamond, but an auspicious one, too.
Sold for $10,776,660 in 2009
Flanked on either side by shield-shaped diamonds, this pink stone is set on a platinum and 18k rose-gold ring designed by the British jeweller Graff. When it went under the hammer in Hong Kong, ‘The Vivid Pink’ sold for more than double its low estimate, achieving the highest price per carat ever paid for a pink diamond at the time ($2,155,332). That record remained unbroken until the sale of ‘The Pink Promise’ and ‘The Pink Legacy’, in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
This example is certified ‘IIA’ by the Gemological Institute of America — meaning it has a particularly rare, almost homogenous colour.
Sold for $14,461,250 in 2017
This square-shaped diamond, which is a particularly light shade of pink, was given by Cardinal Mazarin to Louis XIV in 1661. It then spent 225 years as part of the French crown jewels, passing through the hands of four kings, four queens, two emperors and two empresses, before its 1887 sale when the royal treasury was dispersed and its whereabouts became unknown.
In 2017, while on a site visit to a client’s house, ‘Le Grand Mazarin’ was revealed from inside an old parcel paper to Christie’s jewellery specialist Jean-Marc Lunel.
Sold for $15,762,500 in 2012
Stored in a bank vault since the 1940s, this unique purplish-pink diamond is set in a Belle Époque ring made by Dreicer & Co. and formerly belonged to the reclusive American mining and railroad heiress, Huguette M. Clark. When it sold for almost double its upper estimate in 2012, it became the most expensive pink diamond ever seen at auction in the United States.
The ring was the top lot in a collection of 17 of Clark’s jewels that were auctioned by Christie’s in 2012. Two years later, Christie’s sold Clark’s collection of paintings by artists including Monet, Renoir and Whistler.
Sold for $17,395,728 in 2012
Mounted on an 18k gold ring by the famous New York jeweller Harry ‘King of Diamonds’ Winston, this ring was nicknamed ‘The Martian Pink’ by his son Ronald, who was inspired by the 1976 launch of a US satellite to photograph the ‘red planet’ Mars, and the stone’s similar strong pink colour.
The Martian was certified as having virtually no nitrogen in its crystalline structure and, unlike most pink diamonds, which exhibit tones of purple, orange or grey, it shows absolutely no trace of any secondary colour. As a result, it sold for more than double its low estimate when it went under the gavel in Hong Kong in 2012.