Described as a diamond "in a stratosphere of its own," the 10.57-carat "Eternal Pink" is expected to eclipse $35 million when it hits the auction block at Sotheby's New York on June 8.
If it achieves that lofty mark, The Eternal Pink will join the upper echelon of the most valuable gems ever sold at auction.
Sourced at De Beers' Damtshaa mine in Botswana in 2019, the 23.78-carat rough diamond that yielded The Eternal Pink was fashioned into an exquisite cushion cut by a team of artisans at Diacore. The cutters worked on the stone for "six intense months" in an effort to bring out the diamond’s electric “bubblegum” color.
It's not uncommon for a diamond of this stature to lose half of its weight during the cutting and polishing process.
The end result was an internally flawless diamond with a color grade of "Fancy Vivid," the highest possible for a colored diamond. Sotheby's claims The Eternal Pink is the most vivid purplish-pink diamond ever to come to market.
“This color is the most beautiful and concentrated shade of pink in diamonds that I have ever seen,” commented Quig Bruning, Sotheby’s head of jewelry for the Americas.
According to the auction house, the modifying color of purple often results in the most charming and vibrant feminine hue that is the dream of many.
Sotheby's reported that the stone carries the highest price-per-carat estimate ever placed on any diamond or gemstone at auction. If it achieves the mark of $3.31 million per carat, it will still come up short of the current record holder, the 11.15-carat "Williamson Pink Star," which earned $57.7 million, or $5.2 million per-carat, at Sotheby's Hong Kong in October 2022. That selling price was more than 2.5 times the auction house’s pre-sale high estimate of $21 million.
The "CTF Pink Star" still holds the record for any gem sold at auction. The 59.6-carat pink diamond sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong for $71.2 million in 2017.
Pink diamonds are in high demand and short supply since the November 2020 closure of Rio Tinto's Argyle mine, which had been the world's primary source of high-quality pink gems.
The Eternal Pink will be offered as a part of Sotheby's Magnificent Jewels auction on June 8 at Sotheby’s New York. Prior to the sale, the headliner will be embarking on a world tour with stops in Hong Kong, Taipei, Mainland China, Singapore, Geneva and Dubai.
Credits: Images via sothebys.com, Twitter.com/sothebys.