The Largest Diamonds Ever Sold At Auction

On Monday the 7th of October 2013 the largest white diamond the size of a small egg was sold for the record-breaking $30.6 million at a Sotheby's auction in Hong Kong. The 118.28 carat oval white diamond is the largest and most significant stone of its kind graded by the Gemological Institute of America. No other white diamond has been sold for such high price.

 

The Chairman of Sotheby's European and Middle Eastern Jewellery division, David Bennet, went on to tell CNN the complexities of getting your hands on a diamond of such size and quality. He stated that “There are very few stones of that size, colour and purity,” he said. “It's extremely rare”. He concluded by saying how appealing gems such as the egg sized diamond in question can be to not only diamond lovers but also investors alike.

 

Lately there has been great demand and a multitude of price records set for these rare and prized stones. The stones which have the greatest price per carat are coloured diamonds. An example of one such diamond is the 59.6 carat Pink Star diamond. It became the worlds most expensive gemstone when it was sold for $71.2 million on the 3rd of April 2017 by Sotheby’s in Hong Kong. The record was previously held by the 14.62 carat Oppenheimer Blue diamond which was sold by at Christie’s in Geneva for $50.6 million in May 2016.

 

Even though Demand has risen, It appears that the diamond dealers expectations as to the pricing of these gems have also risen. In some cases, those selling these precious stones have overestimated the price people are willing to pay for them. A recent example was the failed attempt to sell a 7.59 carat fancy vivid blue diamond known as The Premier Blue. Sotheby’s had set the reserve price to be $19 million whereas the highest bid placed was only $16.2 million.

 

It's also worth noting that Sotheby's thought that the 118-carat white diamond might fetch a little more, because it was estimated to sell for $28 million to $35 million. Strip out the buyer's premium (commission that the buyer pays Sotheby's) that is added on to the hammer price and this diamond only just made its low estimate.

 

Even for the 118 carat white diamond in question, Sotheby’s had expected a greater selling price. It was estimated that the diamond would fetch between 28 and 35 million dollars at auction. As a matter of fact, when the buyers premium (commission paid to Sotheby’s by the buyer) is removed, the selling price only barely made it into estimated range.

 

It seems that the owners of the Premier Blue diamond were expecting too much of Sotheby's sale. “Had it sold at the highest bid of $16.12 million, it would have broken the previous per carat record by 25%, fetching $2.1 million versus $1.6 million per carat for the 6.01 carat fancy vivid blue Diamond sold in October 2011,”  says Tobias Kormind, co-founder of specialist diamond jeweler 77 Diamonds. “It seems the owners priced in too rich a premium to what the market was willing to pay.” He adds that it would have also broken the per carat record set for any blue diamond – the fancy deep blue diamond that fetched $9.6 million in London in April 2013– by 17.2%, although that stone was set in a Bulgari ring, which means that it is not strictly comparable.

The largest fancy vivid orange diamond to ever appear at auction shattered a world record as it sold for more than $35.5 million at Christie’s Geneva Magnificent Jewels sale in November 2013.

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