- A rare pink diamond from Russia has sold at auction in Geneva for a staggering $26.6 million Swiss Franc (around A$36 million)
- The diamond, dubbed “The Spirit of the Rose”, was sold by Sotheby’s overnight in an online auction event
- The buyer of the rare diamond has chosen to remain anonymous, but whoever it was set a new sales record
- The vivid purple-pink diamond weighed in at 14.83 carats and took over a year to be cut into its oval shape
- It originally came from Northwestern Russia, where diamond producer Alrosa discovered it back in 2017
An exceedingly rare pink diamond has sold at auction in Geneva for a staggering $26.6 million Swiss Franc (around A$36 million).
The diamond, known as “The Spirit of the Rose”, was sold overnight in an online auction event by Sotheby’s.
The buyer of this rare diamond has chosen to remain anonymous, but whoever it was set a new sales record for pink-purple stones.
The diamond beat out many records, becoming the largest purple-pink diamond to ever appear at auction.
It also came from a 27.85-carat gem, found in Russia 2017 by diamond mining firm Alrosa — the largest pink crystal ever found in the country.
The 14.83-carat diamond took a whole year to be cut into shape by master jewellery-makers.
“The oval shape was chosen in order to ensure that the diamond would be of the maximum possible size, while the dozens of facets would also emphasize the stone’s gentle, rose-petal colour,” Sotheby’s said in a statement.
Pink diamonds are the rarest of the precious gems and account for half of all ten of the most expensive diamonds ever sold.