Pink Star diamond fetches record CHF68 million

According to Sotheby's, the Pink Star was mined by De Beers in Africa in 1999 Keystone

A large plum-sized diamond known as the "Pink Star" has been sold in Geneva for CHF68 million ($83million), a world record for a gemstone. This follows the sale of an almond-shaped orange diamond for CHF32.6 million in the Swiss city on Tuesday.

The “Pink Star”, a flawless 59.60-carat pink diamond, is the largest in its class ever graded by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), with the second biggest less than half its size. Set on a ring, it measures 2.69 by 2.06 centimetres and weighs 11.92 grams.

The huge oval-cut rock was sold as part of Sotheby’s “Magnificent Jewels” auction at the `Beau-Rivage Hotel in Geneva on Wednesday evening. The buyer was not immediately known.

Three years ago, Sotheby’s set a record when it sold the “Graff Pink” diamond for $46.2 million dollars. Half the size of the “Pink Star”, it came from a private collection and had not been on the market for 60 years.

On Tuesday evening the largest fancy vivid orange diamond ever offered at auction – 14.82 carats – went for CHF32.6 million at a Christie’s auction also in Geneva.

That translates to CHF2.19 million per carat – a world record rate for any coloured diamond sold at auction, according to Christie’s.

Christie’s “Magnificent Jewels” auction fetched a record total of CHF115,146,625. It featured a collection that had belonged to the “Andean Rockefeller” Simón Itturi Patiño, which sold well above its pre-sale estimates totalling CHF13.5 million.

The jewellery collection of Parisian style icon Hélène Rochas also went under the hammer, attracting numerous international collectors and selling 100%, bringing in a total of CHF2.1 million.