A rare pink diamond will become the largest diamond in its category to go on sale when it goes up for auction a Geneva auction in November.

The 16.08 carat vivid pink diamond is expected to fetch between 23 and 28 million dollars (20.8 to 25.3 million euros) at auction, said the senior international specialist at Christie’s
auction house, which is hosting the auction.

The diamond is set as a ring, surrounded by a double row of white diamonds, and presenting a third row of small pink diamond underneath.

It has been qualified by the Gemological Institute of America as “fancy vivid”, meaning it has absolutely no trace of any other, or “secondary”, colour, and that its pink hue is pure.

The auction house hopes and expects the vivid pink diamond to break record prices.

In 2009, the 5 carat “vivid pink” diamond was sold for $2,155,332 in Hong Kong, establishing a new per-carat record price for any pink diamond, and over the past five years pink
diamonds have been regularly breaking price records, like the “Princie Diamond”, a 34.65 carat intense pink diamond sold for $39.3 million, or the 14.23 carat “Perfect Pink”
diamond sold for $23.2 million.

Along with this rare diamond, a 19th century emerald and diamond fringe necklace, estimated $1,466,000 and 2,428,000, and which once belonged to Elena di Francia, duchess of
Aosta, and a 118.88 carat Burmese “Royal Blue” sapphire, estimated between almost $3,136,000 and almost 3,642,000, will also go at auction.

-Reuters  

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