A model poses with "The Spirit of the Rose", the world's largest vivid purple-pink diamond with 14.83-carat, before an upcoming Geneva auction on November 11 where it could fetch up to $38 million, during a Sotheby's preview in Geneva, Switzerland Photograph:( Reuters )
The 14.8-carat jewel, named 'The Spirit of the Rose,' is the biggest of its sort to be unloaded, as 99 per cent of all pink precious stones are under 10 carats
An incredibly uncommon purple-pink diamond mined in Russia has sold at an auction in Switzerland for $26.6 million.
The 14.8-carat jewel, named "The Spirit of the Rose," is the biggest of its sort to be unloaded, as 99 per cent of all pink precious stones are under 10 carats. The diamond was named after a ballet performed by the Ballets Russes and its legendary dancer Vaslav Nijinsky in 1911.
Its size, alongside its tone and faultless inward structure, assisted to fetch an exorbitant cost at Sotheby's in Geneva.
Sotheby's had estimated that the flawless oval gem, "The Spirit of the Rose," could fetch $23 million-$38 million at the Geneva sale.
Bidding opened at $16 million and climbed to the final hammer price of $21 million, plus commission. It was bought by a telephone bidder who chose to remain anonymous, Sotheby's said.
The diamond was shown in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taipei.
Coloured stones have been greatly valued as an asset class by the super-rich in recent years with top-quality pink diamonds especially prized.
The Argyle mine in Western Australian, which produced the world's largest supply of pink diamonds, halted production last week due to depletion.
"The lucky buyer could well profit from prices soaring for pink diamonds in the coming years thanks to increased rarity," Tobias Kormind, managing director of 77 Diamonds, Europe's largest online diamond jeweller, said in a statement.
Naturally coloured diamonds occur because they possess a particular lattice structure that refracts light to produce coloured, rather than white, stones.