A new world auction record for a fancy vivid pink diamond was set at Sotheby’s Tuesday when an 8.41-carat internally flawless fancy vivid purple-pink diamond sold for $17.8 million.
An Asian private buyer bought the diamond, which Sotheby’s had mounted. Its sale shattered the former record of $10.8 million, which was set in November 2009, also in Hong Kong, for a 5-carat fancy vivid pink diamond.
The other world auction set at the sale was price-per-carat for any sapphire. The “Kashmir Imperial,” a 17.16-carat step-cut unheated Kashmir sapphire and diamond ring, sold for a little more than $4 million, or $236,404 per carat.
Overall, Sotheby’s auction of Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite totaled $75.2 million, and was 69 percent sold by lot and 67 percent sold by value. The auction house offered a total of 339 lots, 234 of which found buyers.
Included in the sale, but not in the top 10 results, was a butterfly brooch co-designed by Cindy Chao and actress Sarah Jessica Parker. The “2014 Black Label Masterpiece Ballerina Butterfly,” made in 18-karat gold and titanium with brown diamonds, conch pearls and fancy-colored diamonds, sold for $1.2 million.
