On Nov. 15, an anonymous buyer paid $12.8 million for a 33.63 ct. fancy light pink (pictured, right) at Sotheby’s Geneva jewelry sale, setting a new world record for a fancy light pink.
This would seemingly give the trade renewed hope in the auction market—except that another, even higher-profile pink, the 37.3 ct. Raj Pink (pictured below), didn’t find a buyer at the same sale.
The Raj Pink’s belly flop is particularly noteworthy since it was conservatively priced. Considered the world’s largest fancy intense pink diamond, the modified-cushion VS1 brilliant-cut stone carried a $20 million to $30 million estimate. That’s far less than the $48.1 million paid for the 24.78 ct. fancy intense Graff Pink in 2010.
Yet, even with that pricing, according to Reuters, bidding only received 14 million Swiss Francs (about $14.1 million) before the stone was pulled.
Other items that failed to sell were much-ballyhooed lots like a Moussaieff ring with a 7.41 blue diamond, and the Donnersmarck pair of yellow diamonds.
Overall the Sotheby’s sale achieved $78.9 million, with 87 percent sold by lot and 69 percent achieving prices over their high estimates.
(Images courtesy of Sotheby’s)
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