The Pink Star. (Click on image to enlarge it).
There was a world record price for a diamond at Sotheby’s highest grossing jewellery sale in auction history at Geneva last night. The Pink Star – a 59.60 carat oval cut pink diamond – made US$83,187,381, a world record for a diamond or any jewel. The sale of magnificent jewels achieved $199,512,930, the highest total in history.
The Pink Star was bought by New York based diamond cutter Isaac Wolf, who renamed it The Pink Dream after the sale. Four bidders competed for the largest internally vivid pink diamond ever graded.
A diamond brooch created in 1971 sold for $10,555,778, an auction record for a jewel by Van Cleef and Arpels. There was a world record for a Burmese sapphire when a 114.72 carat stone sold for $7,137,821. The Richelieu Sapphires, a pair of 47 carat Kashmir sapphires mounted with diamonds as earrings sold for $8,358,520, a world auction record for sapphire jewels. A pair of diamond earrings sold for $9,213,009, a record for a pair of colourless diamonds.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for September 25, 2013)
UPDATE: ON FEBRUARY 27, 2014 Sotheby’s said the buyer, a New York diamond cutter, could not pay. The company said that they are in discussions with the buyer while also considering other alternatives.