Auctions

This 5-Carat Pink Diamond Set a Per-Carat Auction Record

AuctionsOct 02, 2018

This 5-Carat Pink Diamond Set a Per-Carat Auction Record

It sold for $2.9 million, or $583,551 per carat, at the Bonhams London’s Fine Jewellery auction Sept. 26.

20181002_Bonhams-Pink.jpg
This 5.03-carat fancy pink diamond sold for $583,551 per carat at Bonhams London last week, setting an auction world record for per-carat price for a fancy pink diamond.

London—A rare 5.03-carat fancy pink diamond set an auction world record at Bonhams London’s Fine Jewellery sale Sept. 26.

The VS1 clarity diamond sold for $2.9 million, or $583,551 per carat, setting a new per-carat record for a fancy pink diamond at auction, according to Bonhams.

The record it beat was previously set by a pear-shape brilliant-cut fancy pink diamond weighing 18.51 carats sold at Sotheby’s Geneva in May 2016 for $528,021 per carat.

“We were honored to be chosen to offer this magnificent pink diamond to our global clients and we were delighted to see how well it performed at the sale,” said Emily Barber, director of jewelry at Bonhams UK. “This was due to a number of factors: its size—it’s exceptionally rare to see a pink over five carats on the market today—its even color saturation and its extraordinarily elegant cut.”

Overall, the Bonhams London Fine Jewellery sale totaled $9 million, selling 89 percent of lots by value.

In addition to the record-setting fancy pink diamond, Bonhams also sold an emerald and diamond necklace, bracelet, earring and ring suite by Chatila—featuring 71.67 total carats of Colombian emeralds—for $855,681 and a circa 1930 Art Deco diamond rivière necklace by Cartier, featuring a series of 51 step-cut diamonds, for $417,906.

It also notably sold a Bulgari ring featuring a 3.27-carat cushion-shaped ruby between “shoulders” set with a 0.5-carat pair of square-cut diamonds for $316,279 and an antique ring featuring a 12.82-carat emerald framed by old brilliant-cut diamonds that garnered $308,462.

Brecken Branstratoris the senior editor, gemstones at National Jeweler, covering sourcing, pricing and other developments in the colored stone sector.

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