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'Pink Star' diamond sold for a whopping $83 million!

November 15, 2013 08:12 IST

A plum-sized flawless diamond known as the Pink Star has been sold for a staggering $83 million at an auction in London, a record price for a gemstone.

Records came tumbling down as the 59.6-carat diamond described by Sotheby's auction house as "Internally Flawless Fancy Vivid Pink Diamond" was bought by New York-based famous diamond cutter Isaac Wolf for $83,187,381.

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'Pink Star' diamond sold for a whopping $83 million!

November 15, 2013 08:12 IST
Model Annabeth Murphy-Thomas poses with The Pink Star diamond at Sotheby's auction.

The diamond now holds the world auction record for a diamond, the world auction record for a pink diamond, the world auction record for any coloured diamond and the world auction record for any jewel, Sotheby's said in a statement.

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'Pink Star' diamond sold for a whopping $83 million!

November 15, 2013 08:12 IST

The gemstone, which has been renamed by Wolf as 'The Pink Dream', was sold on Wednesday for the whopping price which eclipsed the previous record of $46.2 million established by Sotheby's Geneva for the magnificent 'Graff Pink' in 2010.

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'Pink Star' diamond sold for a whopping $83 million!

November 15, 2013 08:12 IST
A model poses with the Pink Star diamond during a press preview at Sotheby's in Hong Kong.

The Pink diamond measures 1.06 inches by 0.81 inches and is set on a ring.

This is not just any old big expensive diamond, but one of the rarest stones in the world. Most pink diamonds are less than five carats, the Pink Star is almost 60.

Sotheby's played the theme tune from the "Pink Panther" movie in a tongue-in-cheek gesture after the winning bid was confirmed.

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'Pink Star' diamond sold for a whopping $83 million!

November 15, 2013 08:12 IST

According to the auctioneer, the Pink Star was mined by De Beers in Africa in 1999, but it did not say which country.

"It's really extraordinarily rare," Sotheby's auctioneer David Bennett said. "Very, very few of these stones have ever appeared at auction," he said.

It took two years to cut and polish the diamond, which was 132.5 carat in its rough state.

Sotheby's has sold almost $200 million worth of jewellery in its current auction, a record for a single auction according to the company. 

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