Rare pink diamond sells for world record 46 million dollars

Sotheby\'s had valued the 24.78 carat Fancy Intense Pink diamond mounted on a ring at 27 million to 38 million dollars (20 million to 28 million euros) ahead of the sale in a luxury lakeside hotel.

But intense bidding wiped out the record of over 24 million dollars set during an auction in December 2008 in the sale of a grey-blue diamond Wittelsbach.

"At 40.50 million francs, the world record price. Selling it. Sold," said the auctioner, to applause as he brought down the hammer.

The final price of over 46 million dollars includes the hammer price and the commission.

Sotheby\'s said the buyer is Laurence Graff, a London-based diamond dealer, who had bought the jewellery for his personal collection.

"Laurence Graff is clearly a connoisseur of gemstones. Any connoisseur of gemstone would realise that this is a stone to own. Had I the money, I would have bought it myself," said David Bennett, chairman for Europe and the Middle East at Sotheby\'s international jewellery department.

Bennett had earlier described the pink jewellery "one of the purest diamonds".

The "flawless" emerald-cut gemstone, which forms the centrepiece of the 500 lots in Sotheby\'s auctions of rare and precious jewellery, is rated among a type that accounts for just two percent of diamonds.

It was last seen on the market about 60 years ago when it was sold by legendary US jeweller Harry Winston and kept in a private collection since then, a feature that is adding to its value.

"It\'s very wearable and the perfect size," said Bennett.

"It\'s a stone that has huge character and appeal."

Bennett told journalists that pink diamonds are prized by collectors and the trade since they were discovered in India.

Other lots put under the hammer Tuesday have historic celebrity value, including jewellery that belonged to Cristina Onassis, Cristina Ford, wife of Henry Ford II, grandson of the founder of the Ford Motor Company, as well as items that belonged to Abbas Hilmi II (1874-1944), the last Khedive or viceroy of Egypt and Sudan.

In total, the sale fetched 105 million dollars -- also a record for jewellery auctions, said Bennett.

"The previous world record was also established in Geneva here at Sotheby\'s in 1993 ... for 68 million dollars so we largely surpassed that," he said.

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