Diamond sells for record US$71 million at Sotheby's auction

The record price for the pink diamond was $12m lower than an earlier offer. Photo / AP

Sotheby's sold a 59.6 carat pink diamond for about US$71 million ($101m) in Hong Kong, setting the world record for the top auction price for any gem. The stone has an an unusual distinction: it has attracted even higher bids in the past.

Hong Kong-based jewelry retailer Chow Tai Fook had the HK$553m winning bid for the Pink Star after a five-minute contest that included three phone bidders, Sotheby's said Tuesday. The oval-shaped diamond dethroned the Oppenheimer Blue, which fetched US$58m ($83m)in May at Christie's.

The Pink Star diamond, the most valuable cut diamond ever offered at auction. Photo / AP

In a quirk of auction history, the record price for the Pink Star is some $12m lower than the US$83m ($119m) offer Sotheby's adjudicated it for in 2013. That sale collapsed because the buyer, diamond-cutter Isaac Wolf, never paid, and Sotheby's had to reclaim the stone.

The sale gives the auction house some respite after it failed to sell other major gems last year, including the biggest rough diamond found in more than 100 years and a blue diamond ring that once belonged to Hollywood actress Shirley Temple.

Chow Tai Fook, founded in 1929, is the world's largest jeweler, operating more than 2,000 jewelry and watch stores throughout China.

The Pink Star was estimated to be worth more than US$60m ($86m). It's the largest internally flawless diamond of its kind that the Gemological Institute of America has ever graded. The color is fancy pink, the highest grade, and the purity of its crystals ranks among the top 2 per cent in the world.

Steinmetz Diamonds, owned by Israeli billionaire Beny Steinmetz, spent two years cutting and polishing the stone, which was mined by De Beers in Botswana. The stone was then worn by Danish model Helena Christensen around her neck to exhibit it to the public for the first time in Monaco in 2003.

The Pink Star diamond, the most valuable cut diamond ever offered at auction, displayed on a model's hand. Photo / AP

Pink diamonds get their color from a process known as plastic deformation, whereby pressure changes create structural anomalies in the crystals.

Sotheby's didn't change its practices for accepting bids in this auction as buyer defaults are "extremely rare," said Catherine Allen, a spokeswoman.

- Bloomberg