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Rare ‘Pink Star’ diamond expected to break auction record

Posted at 7:18 AM, Apr 04, 2017
and last updated 2017-04-04 10:31:54-04

A giant pink diamond is expected to break records at a Sotheby’s auction in Hong Kong on Tuesday.

Clocking in at 59.60 carats and with an estimated value of more than $60 million, the Pink Star could become the most expensive diamond ever sold at auction.

A giant pink diamond is expected to break records at a Sotheby’s auction in Hong Kong on Tuesday. Clocking in at 59.60 carats and with an estimated value of more than $60 million, the Pink Star could become the most expensive diamond ever sold at auction. It’s the largest polished diamond to go on the auction block. Tobias Kormind of 77 Diamonds, an online diamond jewelery seller, said he expects it to sell for more than $100 million.

It’s the largest polished diamond to go on the auction block. Tobias Kormind of 77 Diamonds, an online diamond jewelry seller, said he expects it to sell for more than $100 million.

This isn’t the first time the Pink Star has gone up for sale.

In 2013, it sold for a record $83 million at a Sotheby’s auction in Geneva, but the buyer, New York-based diamond cutter Isaac Wolf, defaulted on the deal. Sotheby’s ended up saddled with the expensive stone.

The most important diamond sales usually take place in Geneva.

The Oppenheimer Blue, the most expensive polished diamond (successfully) sold at auction, fetched $57.5 million at a Christie’s auction in Geneva last May.

Soon after, Sotheby’s tried to auction off the Lesedi La Rona, the world’s second biggest diamond, in the Swiss city. The uncut stone was expected to go for at least $70 million, but failed to find a buyer.

Sotheby’s is trying a new city for the Pink Star this time around.

The auction house is “writing a new chapter in its story by offering it for sale in Hong Kong, now a global epicenter for the world’s wealthy,” Kormind said.

It took nearly two years to cut the Pink Star from a rough diamond. It first appeared in public in 2003 and later became part of an exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, home of the famous 45.52 carat blue Hope Diamond. It was also displayed at the Natural History Museum in London.

Tuesday’s winning bid is expected to surpass the last world auction record for a pink diamond — $46.16 million for the 24.78 carat Graff Pink, sold at Sotheby’s in Geneva in 2010.