Pink Star Diamond sets $71 mln auction record

A new auction record was reached when the Pink Star went for $71.2 million, at a Sotheby’s auction Tuesday in Hong Kong . It was sold just five minutes into bidding, the BBC reports. The Pink Star is the largest flawless fancy vivid pink diamond ever graded by the Gemological Institute of America. The diamond had failed to sell in November 2013 when the buyer could not pay for its value at that time which was placed at $83 million. 

The gorgeous bauble was purchased by well-known Hong Kong jeweler Chow Tai Fook and was immediately renamed the CTF Pink in memory of the late Dr. Cheng Yu-Tung, father of the current chairman and founder of Chow Tai Fook, and commemorates the brand’s 88th anniversary.

"Not only was the price more than double the previous record for a fancy vivid pink diamond, but it was also a new record for any work ever sold at auction in Asia," Sotheby's said in a statement.
“We’re very happy,” said Sotheby’s Asia Chairwoman Patti Wong adding the company is not worried about a default this time because the auction house vetted the bidders, who also just so happen to have longstanding relationships with Sotheby’s.

The previous auction record for any diamond or gemstone was held by the Oppenheimer Blue, sold by Christie’s Geneva in May 2016 for $57.5 million. 
Until now, the most expensive diamond ever sold at auction was the “Oppenheimer Blue,” which fetched 56.8 million Swiss francs (then $57.6 million) last May. The previous world auction record for a pink diamond was $46.2 million for the 24.78 carat “Graff Pink” in 2010.

Sotheby’s decided the time was right to bring the diamond back to the market because of rising demand from wealthy Asian buyers. The “Pink Star” was mined in Africa by De Beers in 1999 as a raw 132.5 carat gem and cut over a two-year period.