Sotheby’s Selling “Most Significant” Pink Diamond Ever

By Rob Bates | March 29, 2023

Sotheby’s is selling the Eternal Pink (pictured), a 10.57 ct. internally flawless cushion-cut fancy vivid purplish pink diamond—which it calls the “most significant” pink ever to come to market.

The diamond will go under the hammer June 8, at Sotheby’s annual Magnificent Jewels auction in New York City.

The gemstone’s estimate tops $35 million, or $3.3 million a carat. If the diamond sells at that price, it will rival the per-carat record set by the 11.5 ct. Williamson Pink Star, an internally flawless fancy vivid pink that sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong in October 2022 for $5.2 million per carat—the highest price per carat ever paid for any diamond or gem.

The 23.78 ct. rough that yielded the Eternal Pink was mined by De Beers at its Damtshaa mine in Botswana. It took six months for Diacore to fashion it into a “bubblegum”-hued cushion cut.

Sotheby’s announcement comes as the auction market for colored diamonds has hit a bumpy patch. But the auction house is convinced this new gem is special. “In its decades of research on pink diamonds, the GIA has encountered vanishingly few gemstones that are categorized as fancy vivid purplish pink,” said Sotheby’s statement.

“This color is the most beautiful and concentrated shade of pink in diamonds that I have ever seen or has ever come to market,” said Quig Bruning, head of Sotheby’s jewelry, Americas, in the same statement. “The Eternal Pink’s immense presence and great rarity make it comparable to ultimate masterpieces of art—far rarer than a Magritte or a Warhol.”

The diamond will be exhibited in Hong Kong from April 1 to 7 and then go on tour to Dubai, Singapore, Shanghai, Taiwan, and Geneva, before coming to New York City.

The world record for total price paid for any diamond or gemstone at auction was set by the CTF Pink Star, a 59.6 ct. internally flawless oval mixed-cut fancy vivid pink diamond that earned $71.2 million at Sotheby’s Hong Kong in April 2017.