‘Asian private customer’ buys Fortune Pink diamond for US$28.5 million
- The rare Fortune Pink diamond headlined Christie’s latest Geneva sale of jewellery
- The vivid pink stone weighs 18.18 carats - a fortuitous number for Asian collectors
The Fortune Pink diamond, an exceptionally rare giant gemstone, sold for more than US$28.5 million at auction in Geneva on Tuesday to a private Asian customer.
At 18.18 carats, the jewel is the largest pear-shaped “fancy vivid pink” diamond ever sold under the hammer, Christie’s auction house said.
The dazzling diamond fetched a hammer price of 24.5 million Swiss francs (US$24,615,150), rising to 28,436,500 Swiss francs (US$28,570,150) with the buyer’s premium added on.
The bidding, which lasted for a tense four minutes, started at 17 million Swiss francs and was a three-way battle between telephone bidders, with the winner eventually claiming the gem by upping the bid by half a million.
“The buyer is happy. It’s a dream come true,” the Christie’s employee taking the winning telephone bid said, while maintaining the buyer’s anonymity.
The Fortune Pink, mined in Brazil, had been estimated to fetch between US$25 million and US$35 million.
