Sold for: $2,485,963

“This orange diamond charms with warm and exuberant energy.”

Major auction houses see their fair share of exceptional colored diamonds. But a fancy vivid orange—such as the 4.08 ct. pear-cut gem in this dazzling ring—is remarkably rare. (Sotheby’s sold perhaps the most famous fancy vivid orange, the 5.54 ct. Pumpkin Diamond, in 1997 to the House of Harry Winston.) So it’s no surprise that this piece fetched far above its $1.8 million high estimate at Sotheby’s Hong Kong on April 5. The colored diamond “is considered uncommonly large for specimens from this extraordinary category,” says Quek Chin Yeow, deputy chairman of Sotheby’s Asia and chairman of international jewelry, Asia. And its elegant, unique mounting “further accentuates the beauty of the diamond by freeing it from any metal enclosure—allowing that soft outline to be fully visible.” 

Diamond ring with a 4.08 ct. pear-shape fancy vivid orange diamond and 5.2 ct. pear-shape diamond accenting an 18k white gold hoop pavé-set with circular-cut diamonds

(Courtesy of Sotheby’s)