The Rare Williamson Pink Star Diamond Sold For A Record Price
Williamson Pink Star, an extremely rare diamond, was sold for a record price of HK$453 million (over 56 million dollars), more than double its estimated price.
It is the highest price per carat ever achieved at a diamond auction sale.
The event took place on Friday at Sotheby's Hong Kong auction, where the 11.15-carat Williamson Pink Star diamond, named after another pink diamond, given to Queen Elizabeth II as a wedding gift, was purchased by an unspecified buyer.
"This is an amazing result, proving the resilience of top diamonds in a shaky economy. When you consider a seductive link to Queen Elizabeth, rising prices for pink diamonds due to their increasing rarity and the backdrop of an unstable global economy. Some of the world's best quality diamonds have seen prices double in the last 10 years," said Tobias Kormind, managing director of London jewelry store 77 Diamonds.
Tobias Kormind believes the precious stone's link to the late monarch may have contributed to the diamond's increased value.
The Williamson Pink Star Diamond Sold For a Fortune
The Williamson Pink Star diamond is cushion-shaped, and its name derives from two other large pink diamonds: the 59.60-carat, mixed-cut, oval-shaped Pink Star diamond sold at auction in 2017, and the Williamson stone, a 23.60-carat diamond given to the Queen in 1947 by Canadian geologist John Thoburn Williamson.
Williamson owned a mine in Tanzania, where both the Williamson stone and the Pink Star diamond were discovered.
Mounted as a floral brooch designed by Frederick Mew of Cartier in 1953, Williamson is said to have been a favorite of the late Queen, who wore it on many occasions during her reign, including the Silver Jubilee.
Pink diamonds like the Williamson Pink Star are particularly rare and no one can explain exactly how they become pink geologically.
"While nitrogen and boron are responsible for the vivid hues of yellow and blue diamonds respectively, there is no evidence that pink diamonds get their color from trace elements. Rather, the crystal structure of the stone selectively absorbs light due to an idiosyncratic lattice defect, which results in an unusual arrangement of atoms in the crystal. These happy anomalies occasionally cause a pink graining in the diamond crystal - a perfectly brilliant display of imperfection," said Wenhao Yu, president of Sotheby's Asia jewelry and watches department.
According to Wenhao Yu, the chair of jewelry and watches at Sotheby’s Asia, "the discovery of a gem-quality pink diamond of any size is an extremely rare occurrence, something that – with the recent closure of the Argyle mine – seemed, until recently, highly improbable."
Photo Credit: (Photograph: AP)
,%20more%20than%20double%20its%20estimated%20price.It%20is%20the%20highest%20price%20per%20carat%20eve...){kind=link}