‘Pink Star’ Seen Selling for Minimum $60M at Sotheby’s Geneva Sale

(IDEX Online News) – The highlight of Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels auction in Geneva on November 13 is likely to be a flawless 59.60-carat pink diamond, known as the "Pink Star".

The internally flawless, fancy vivid pink, type IIa diamond is expected to sell for a minimum of $60 million. David Bennett, chairman of Sotheby's jewelry division in Europe and the Middle East, said the diamond was in "the ranks of the Earth's greatest natural treasures".

"It is difficult to exaggerate the rarity of vivid pink diamonds weighing only five carats, so this 59.60 carat stone is simply off any scale," he said in a statement.

The diamond, which received the highest possible color and clarity grade from the GIA, was produced from a 132.5-carat stone mined by De Beers in Africa in 1999. Sotheby's declined to say in which African country it was discovered.

It was cut and polished by Steinmetz Diamonds, and dubbed the "Steinmetz Pink" when it was first shown to the public 10 years ago.

The diamond is more than twice the size of the 24.78-carat Graff Pink diamond that set the world auction record for any jewel when it was sold by Sotheby's in Geneva in 2010 for $46.2 million.

The Pink Star will be shown in Hong Kong, New York, London, Zurich and Geneva, before the November sale, Sotheby's said.