An extremely rare 18-carat rare diamond called the ‘Fortune Pink’ was sold for a whopping $28.5 million at an auction in Geneva.
A private Asian collector successfully bid for the pear-shaped “fancy vivid pink” jewel.
The auction began with a starting price of 17 million Swiss francs, but a three-way battle jacked up the value of the dazzling gem up to $28,570,150 (28,436,500 Swiss francs), which includes the buyer’s premium, reports AFP news agency.
The dazzling stone, which is mounted on a ring flanked by a large white diamond on either side, was auctioned in the Magnificent Jewels at the Hotel des Bergues, as part of Christie’s Luxury Week of sales.
Before being auctioned in Geneva, it was put up for exhibition in New York, Shanghai, Taiwan, and Singapore.
It was earlier estimated that the ‘Fortune Pink’ diamond would fetch between $25 million and $35 million.
The highest a pink diamond could fetch was $71.2 million, when the stone known as the CTF Pink Star went under the hammer in Hong Kong.
Pink diamonds are considered to be one of the rarest gemstones in the world as they are only found in very few locations. It is estimated that fewer than 10 per cent of these diamonds weigh more than one-fifth of a carat.
Speculations are rife as to how these diamonds obtained the pink colour. There are reports which suggest that a structural defect known as plastic deformation caused these diamonds to absorb light differently, and a result, the gems got their pink hue.
According to Christie’s, the first pink diamonds ever recorded were found in India’s Golconda mines in the 16th Century, and later in Africa, Australia, Brazil, and Russia.
AFP and International Media