A rare $50 million pink diamond will be put up for auction for the first time ever in Geneva this Tuesday.
At over 10 carats, the ‘virtually unheard’ gem called The Pink Legacy is set to go under the hammer at Auction House Christie’s annual Magnificent Jewels auction on November 13 at the Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues.
The nearly 19-carat rectangular-cut pink stone is estimated to fetch between $30 million and $50 million.
A rare $50 million rectangular-cut pink diamond called The Pink Legacy will go under the hammer for the first time ever in Geneva on November 13
The unique diamond will go on sale at Auction House Christie’s annual Magnificent Jewels auction
International jewellery specialist at Christie’s, Jean-Marc Lunel, told AFP: ‘If you consider that most pink diamonds weigh less than a carat, it is really something.
‘It is probably the most beautiful (specimen) ever presented at public auction.’
He added that the expensive vividly coloured diamond was discovered in a South African mine around a century ago and was ‘probably cut in the 1920s’.
The unique diamond once belonged to the Oppenheimer family, which for decades ran the De Beers diamond mining company and controlled much of the world’s diamond trade over three generations.
It is not known who the current owner is.
International jewellery specialist at Christie’s, Jean-Marc Lunel, told AFP: ‘It is probably the most beautiful (specimen) ever presented at public auction’
According to Mr Lunel, the diamond, which was discovered in a South African mine, was ‘probably cut in the 1920s’
The auction of the unique diamond will take place at the Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues, Geneva
Auction House Christie’s said that only four vivid pink diamonds over 10 carats have ever been offered for sale at auction.
The remarkable stone will not be the most expensive diamond ever sold however.
In 2013 a pink diamond weighing 59.60 carats went under the hammer at Sotheby’s for $83 million.
Meanwhile in November during a Christie’s auction in Hong Kong the nearly 15-carat Pink Promise was sold for $32.5 million.
In a statement released in September by Christie’s international head of jewellery Rahul Kadakia, he said: ‘Its exceptional provenance will no doubt propel it into a class of its own as one of the world’s greatest diamonds.’