Auctions are always a place to go to. One, for their variety of items that can be bought; two for the pumped up feeling one gets when participating in the auctions.
At one such auction, the largest diamond ever was sold for nearly $34 million.
The diamond went under the hammer in Geneva Tuesday evening for nearly $34 million, a world record for a gem of its kind, the Christie’s auction house said.
The 163.41-carat flawless D color diamond, suspended from an emerald and diamond necklace called The Art of Grisogono, sold for 33.5 million Swiss francs ($33.8 million, 28.7 million euros), after taxes and commissions, at the Christie’s autumn jewel auction.
This marks “a new world-record price for a D color diamond at auction,” Rahul Kadakia, auctioneer and head of Christie’s international jewels division, told AFP.
D is the highest color grade attributed to a diamond, indicating that the stone is completely colorless, and thus extremely rare.
The bidding started at 20 million, was finally sold to an anonymous bidder for well above the asking price of 25 million.
Described as a “masterpiece of unparalleled beauty and exquisite workmanship” by Christe, was expected to fetch more.
The flawless, D color 11A type diamond was cut from a 404-karat rough rock which was discovered in February 2016 in the Lulo mine in Angola — the 27th biggest rough white diamond ever discovered.
Another highlight of Tuesday’s auction, a large pink diamond once set in the crowns of numerous French kings and emperors, including Napoleon, meanwhile sold for far more than the $6-9 million estimate.
It was sold again to an unidentified telephone bidder, for 12.5 million francs, with the final price tag after taxes and commissions ticking in at 14.4 million francs ($14.5 million, 12.3 million euros).
Christie’s said the seller was a private collector but did not reveal their identity.
Christie’s jewel auction, which raked in sales totaling 105.4 million Swiss francs, will be followed Wednesday by a similar auction at Sotheby’s.
The highlight of that show, also in Geneva, will be The Raj Pink, the world’s largest known fancy intense pink diamond, which Sotheby’s is aiming to sell for $20-30 million.
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