The diamond, mined in Botswana in 2019, is valued at $3.3 million per carat, the highest per-carat estimate for a gemstone on the market.
It is the “rarest among the rare” pink diamond, estimated at 35 million dollars, which will be auctioned in June in New York, Sotheby’s announced on Wednesday.
This 10.57-carat “impurity-free” precious stone, which was extracted in 2019 from a mine in Botswana then weighing 23.78 carats gross, will be sold on June 8, in New York, raised to the rank of international center of the art and luxury market.
According to Sotheby’s, an auction house owned by Patrick Drahi (owner of SFR and BFMTV), the auction for this “Eternal Pink”, valued at $35 million, will be held during a special week of jewelry sales.
“The Rarest of the Few”
“You are dealing with the rarest of the few (diamonds), whose stone suffers no comparison,” enthused Alexander Eblen, head of jewelry sales for Sotheby’s.
“Rated at approximately $3.3 million per carat, or just over $35 million, this is the highest estimate per carat for any gemstone on the market,” he added. .
The record at $71.2 million
In a booming auction market in New York, the auction houses Sotheby’s, Christie’s or Philips are firing on all cylinders on sectors other than painting and sculpture, including jewelry, and the clothing and movable heritage of stars arts, letters and sports.
Sotheby’s believes that this pink diamond – among the most sought after by investors – is “much rarer than a (painting by Belgian surrealist painter René) Magritte or a (painting by American pop art master Andy) Warhol”, because of its purity and perfection.
The current all-time high for the sale price of a pink diamond was reached in Hong Kong in 2017, at $71.2 million. And the Williamson pink diamond was also sold in Hong Kong in 2022 for $57.7 million.
