Called “The Spirit of the Rose,” this 14.83-carat one-of-a-kind pink diamond is the most massive raw stone of its color ever found in Russia. It was sold at an auction at Sotheby’s in Geneva for $26.6 million on Wednesday.
It took only a few minutes for the bidding to reach 21 million Swiss francs right after the unique and eye-catching stone emerged at the online auction. The final buyer, however, remained anonymous.
Benoit Repellin, Sotheby’s auctioneer, described the diamond as a “wonder of nature” and shared that these rare diamonds’ rate is gradually increasing as they become more scarce and uncommon.
The rare pink gem was faceted from a 27.85-carat stone found by Alrosa, a diamond mining firm in Russia’s Sakha republic in Northeast Siberia in 2017. Cutting the complete diamond to its shape while protecting its original pink color took hours of meticulous and detailed work.
Pink diamonds are the rarest and most in-demand precious gems around the globe. The most expensive pink diamond ever sold was for $71.2 million back in 2017. The stone was called CTF Star Pink and was sold in Hong Kong.
According to Sotheby’s, out of the ten most expensive diamonds ever sold within this past decade, five of them were pink. While the most massive and biggest pink diamond mine in the world has stopped its production because it seems that Australia’s Argyle deposit accounts for more than 90% of the global supply had been exhausted and consumed.
These unique pink gems were first found in India in the 17th century. Its pink color results from its atomic arrangement or the distortion and deformity in the “crystal lattice.”
“[Pink diamonds are] created by intense heat and great pressure after the stone’s formation in the earth. This distortion displaces many carbon atoms from their normal positions and alters the qualities of the light reflected by the diamond which results in us observing the stone as pink.”
Sotheby’s, an auction house in Geneva
Pink diamonds are rare and scarce because, unlike other colored diamonds, these pink gems have no chemical trace elements present in its formation. Such as the existence of nitrogen creates yellow diamonds at the same time, boron forms blue diamonds.
Currently, just 1% of pink diamonds are said to be bigger than 10-carats, and 4% are graded “fancy vivid.”
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Wow that is a real great diamond 💎 nice. Wish to have that in my country so it can change lives. Anyways congrats to those who have.