US$50mil pink diamond sets auction record

GENEVA: An exceptionally rare pink diamond of nearly 19 carats fetched US$50mil (RM209.5mil) at an auction in Geneva, Christie’s said, setting a new per-carat record for a stone of its kind.

The Pink Legacy, which once belonged to the Oppenheimer family – who for decades ran the De Beers diamond-mining company – was snapped up by American luxury brand Harry Winston, part of the Swiss Swatch group.

“US$2.6mil (RM10.9mil) per carat. That is a world record per carat for a pink diamond,” said Francois Curiel, head of Christie’s in Europe, of the price that included all fees and commissions on Tuesday.

“This stone is for me the Leonardo da Vinci of diamonds.”

The 18.96-carat diamond was discovered in a South African mine around a century ago, Christie’s said. It was probably cut in the 1920s and has not been altered since.

The stone was rechristened the Winston Pink Legacy by its buyers.

Christie’s international head of jewellery Rahul Kadakia described it as “one of the world’s greatest diamonds”.

The rectangular-cut stone has been graded “fancy vivid” – the highest possible grade of colour intensity – as it has no trace of another hue like purple, orange or brown.

Most pink diamonds weigh less than one carat and those in the top colour category with more than 10 carats are virtually unheard of at auction houses.

The Pink Legacy is classed as Type IIa, meaning that it is extremely chemically pure, a category only two percent of diamonds fall into.

“These are stones that have little, if any, trace of nitrogen,” said Kadakia, adding that this often gives Type IIa diamonds “exceptional transparency and brilliance”.

“Imagine a domino that you have cut the corners off of,” Jean-Marc Lunel, an international jewellery specialist at Christie’s, recently said, describing the stone’s unusual shape.

He pointed out that the diamond has a “classical so-called emerald cut” – standing out from the typical cuts used today, which are more rounded and multi-faceted. — AFP