A fancy vivid pink 14.83-carat diamond is expected to fetch between CHF21 million and CHF35 million (US$23 million and US$38 million) at an upcoming Sotheby’s live auction in Geneva.
The oval-shaped, internally flawless diamond was cut from a 27.85-carat pink ɾօυɢҺ diamond, the largest ever mined in Russia. Alrosa, one of the world’s leading diamond producers, unearthed the ɾօυɢҺ diamond in July 2017 and spent a year turning it into its polished form, according to Sotheby’s.
The diamond was given the name “Le Spectre de la rose” (The Spirit of the Rose) after the eponymous ballet, premiered by the Ballets Russes company and their legєɴԀary impresario Sergey Dyagilev in Monaco in 1911.
Prices of fancy pink diamonds have increased 116% over the last decade, outperforming blue diamonds’ 81% and yellow diamonds’ 21%, according to a ɾєρօɾτ released this past February by the Fancy Color Research Foundation (FCRF), an Israel-based diamond market information provider that tracks diamond prices in Hong Kong, New York, and Tel Aviv.
Although the FCRF was unable to garner meaningful market data for diamonds since the Covid-19 crisis hit globally, there is a census that prices of pink diamonds will continue to rise in the years ahead due to supply interruptions. The Argyle mine in Australia, the fourth largest rare pink diamond producer, will be closed down by the єɴԀ of this year.
“The occurrence of pink diamonds in nature is extremely rare in any size,” Gary Schuler, worldwide chairman of Sotheby’s jewelry division, said in a ȿτɑτємєɴτ. “Only 1% of all pink diamonds are larger than 10 carats and only 4% of all pink diamonds are graded ‘Fancy Vivid’ and display a rich, vivid color.”
Large, rare pink diamonds have fetched some record-breaking prices at auction in the past few years. In 2017, Christie’s Hong Kong sold The Pink Promise, an oval-shaped, 14.93-carat fancy vivid pink diamond, for HK$250 million (US$32.5 million, or US$2.2 million per carat). The record price per carat for a pink diamond was set in 2018, when The Pink Legacy, a 18.96-carat rectangular fancy vivid pink diamond, fetched CHF50.4 million, or US$2.6 million per carat, at a Christie’s sale in Geneva.
The CTF Pink Star, a 59.60-carat fancy vivid pink diamond, remains the most expensive pink diamond in the world. It sold for HK$553 million at a Sotheby’s auction in Hong Kong in 2017.
The 14.83-carat “Le Spectre de la rose” will be offered on Nov. 11 at Sotheby’s “Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels” auction in Geneva. Prior to the auction, it will be shown in Hong Kong (Oct. 13-14), Singapore (Oct. 20-21), Taipei (Oct. 27-28), and Geneva (Nov. 7-10), at Sotheby’s galleries.
