Most Expensive Diamond-'Vivid Pink' sets world
record
HONG KONG, China--A rare, 5-carat pink diamond, "Vivid
Pink," has sold for $10.8 million (HKD $74m) at jewellery
auction in Hong Kong-setting the new world record for the
Most
Expensive Diamond (per carat).
Photo: The record-selling "Vivid Pink"
ring (above) is set in a "cushion-cut" ring by famed jewelers
Graff Diamonds. / Photo Christie's Images
(enlarge
photo)
The price smashed the previous Guinness world
record, set 15 years ago in Geneva for a 19.66-carat stone
that sold for $7.4 million. The pink gem's per-carat price
of $2.2 million was also the highest ever paid for any diamond
at auction, Christie's said.
"No stone has ever been sold for $2 million
a carat, we were used to ... a million dollars a carat for
colored diamonds but never 2 million," said Francois Curiel,
Christie's Europe chairman. "This is an absolute record that
is not going to be broken for a while I believe."
"Vivid
Pink," as it's called, is a glittering five-carat
stone flanked by two white diamonds and set in a ring by elite
jeweler Graff, owned by U.K. billionaire Laurence Graff. Demand exceeded Christie's' expectations.
Last week the auction house's department head for jewels,
Vickie Sek, predicted the rock would fetch $8 million.
Auctioneer Francois Curiel said the pink gem's
per-carat price of $2.2m was also the highest ever paid for
any diamond at auction.
The Most
Expensive Diamond toured Singapore, Bangkok, Geneva
and Taipei before returning to Hong Kong, where collectors
and connoisseurs vied for it at the Convention and Exhibition
Center.
An anonymous Asian buyer placed the winning bid
of $83.5 million Hong Kong dollars via telephone through a
Christie's representative, beating out Shanghai millionaire
Liu Yiqian, who ranks 196th on Forbes' list of the richest
people in mainland China. Related world records: Most
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