13-Carat Pink Diamond Withdrawn From Christie’s Auction
The auction house is not offering any details on why the fancy vivid pink stone was pulled from its upcoming “Magnificent Jewels” sale.
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Rapaport broke the news that the diamond had been pulled from the auction on Thanksgiving Day.
Christie’s confirmed its withdrawal to National Jeweler on Wednesday, stating: “The ‘Fancy Vivid Pink Diamond Ring’ has been withdrawn from sale in New York on Dec. 6. We have no further comment.”
The auction house originally announced the auction of the unnamed stone in mid-November, billing it as the highlight of its upcoming “Magnificent Jewels” sale.
At the time, Rahul Kadakia, international head of jewelry at Christie’s, said a private collector approached them about putting the diamond up for sale in December after the auction house sold “The Fortune Pink” for $28.8 million in Geneva.
The estimate on the VVS1/potentially IF stone, which Kadakia described as “magnificently rare,” was $25 million to $35 million.
News that the 13-carat fancy vivid pink was being pulled from Christie’s upcoming jewelry sale follows an eventful fall for natural colored diamonds at auction.
In October at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, the 11.15-carat fancy vivid “Williamson Pink Star” sold for $57.7 million, or roughly $5.2 million per carat, blowing past pre-sale estimates and setting a new price-per-carat world record for any diamond or gemstone sold at auction.
At first, Sotheby’s announced the buyer had changed the diamond’s name to the “Rosenberg Williamson Pink Star” but later decided just to keep it as the Williamson Pink Star.
The Fortune Pink went up on the block a month later at Christie’s Geneva with a pre-sale estimate of as much as $35 million but ultimately came in at the low end of its estimated range.
The top lot in Christie’s Dec. 6 “Magnificent Jewels” sale is now expected to be a pendant featuring a nearly 32-carat fancy blue diamond (estimate $10 million to $15 million), while Sotheby’s is gearing up for what could be a massive jewelry auction next week.
The auction house’s Dec. 7 sale includes a 6.25-carat emerald ring recovered from a 400-year-old shipwreck; two more diamonds from the “De Beers Exceptional Blue Collection;” the 303.10-carat “Golden Canary” diamond; and a selection of Egyptian Revival jewelry.
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