One of the world’s purest, most saturated pink diamonds was unveiled on Monday by Sotheby’s Dubai at the Dubai Diamond єxƈҺɑɴɢє, ahead of a tour to Singapore, Taipei, and lastly Hong Kong, where it will be offered in a standalone, single-lot auction on October 5.
The diamond will be exhibited for viewing by the public in The Monogram Room at the Four Seasons in the DIFC on Tuesday (September 6).
At 11.15 carats, the ‘Williamson Pink Star’ is the second largest internally flawless fancy vivid pink diamond to ever appear at auction — outsized only by the record-breaking CTF Pink Star, the 59.60-carat oval mixed-cut diamond, which sold at Sotheby’s for $71.2 million in April 2017, and still holds the world auction record for any diamond, gemstone, or jewel.
According to Sotheby’s, the world’s premier destination for art and luxury, such is the perfection and purity of the Williamson Pink Star that, with an estimate of $21 million, it has the potential to set a new per carat price record for a Fancy Vivid pink diamond.
A natural wonder of nature, the extraordinary cushion-shaped stone has only two equals in clarity and depth of color, both of which are referenced in its name: first, the record-setting CTF Pink Star; and second, the celebrated ‘Williamson’ stone – a brilliant of 23.60-carats given as a wedding present to Queen Elizabeth II in 1947 by the geologist and royalist, Dr. John Thorburn Williamson, who owned the mine in Tanzania where it was discovered.
“The discovery of a gem-quality pink diamond of any size is an extremely rare occurrence. Driven by a limited supply and rising demand, prices for top-quality large pink diamonds over 5 carats have increased exponentially over the past decade, serєɴԀipitously setting the scene for the appearance now of this one-of-a-kind stone,” Wenhao Yu, Chairman of Jewellery and Watches at Sotheby’s Asia, said.
Pink diamonds: Magic and mystery
Curiously, what gives pink diamonds their coveted color remains a mystery and it is one of the rarest colors to occur naturally in diamonds: of all the diamonds submitted to GIA, less than 3 percent are classified as colored diamonds, and of those, less than 5 percent are considered predominantly pink. A Fancy Vivid Pink diamond, weighing over 10 carats is, therefore, of the utmost rarity.
