Rare pink diamond sold in Hong Kong for closely $58 million, setting a record for price per carat paid at auction for any diamond or gemstone, according to Sotheby’s.
The 11.15-carat Williamson Pink Star raised HK$453.2 million ($57.7 million), the second-highest price paid at auction for any jewel, Sotheby’s added.
The winning bid, by an anonymous buyer from Boca Raton, Florida, was more than twice the likely $21 million sale price.
The stone was the second-largest pink diamond to be sold at auction. Pink diamonds are the fewest of the precious gems and the most in-demand on the global market.
The world record for a pink diamond set in 2017, when a stone known as the CTF Pink Star sold in Hong Kong for $71.2 million.
Friday’s sale “not only attests to the resilient demand for top quality diamonds in Asia, but a heightened awareness of the great scarcity of pink diamonds”, said Wenhao Yu, chairman of jewellery and watches at Sotheby’s Asia.
The Williamson Pink Star named after two other pink diamonds: the record-setting CTF Pink Star and the Williamson Stone, a 23.6-carat diamond given as a wedding present to Queen Elizabeth II in 1947.
Tobias Kormind, managing director of UK jewel retailer 77 Diamonds, said the “astounding” sale proved high-quality diamonds could still raise main prices in a shaky economy.
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“Hard assets such as world-class diamonds have a history of performing well even in times of instability,” he said.