François Curiel, Christie`s president for Asia, identified the buyer only as a "Chinese client who lives in Hong Kong." House spokeswoman Alexandra Kindermann said the price was a record for a vivid pink diamond at auction. The buyer promptly named the stone, "Sweet Josephine," she said.
The sale came as part of a two-day blitz of high-priced jewelry sales in Geneva. On Wednesday, rival Sotheby`s puts up the 12.03-carat Blue Moon Diamond, with a pre-sale estimate is $35-$55 million. At the high end of the range, it could eclipse the record auction price of more than $46 million set by The Graff Pink five years ago.
Christie`s says the pink diamond sold on Tuesday had the rare attribute of having no secondary color and had earned the "Fancy Vivid" color grading from the Gemological Institute of America. Only one in 100,000 diamonds has color deep enough to merit the "fancy" moniker in jewelry parlance, the auction house said.
Industry insiders note that the overall diamond market has softened in recent months because of slowing in economic growth in places like China and elsewhere, but that high-end diamond sales — like highly priced artwork — are a niche market seen as long-term investments for the most well-heeled.
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