Rare $31.6 million ‘Unique Pink’ diamond sets new auction record

An extremely rare 15.38 carat pear-shaped pink diamond – called the ‘Unique Pink’ – sold for $31.6 million at Sotheby’s in Geneva on Tuesday, making it the most expensive fancy vivid pink diamond ever to sell at auction.

The spectacular diamond, set in a simple ring, sold to an Asian private buyer who bid for the rare gem over the telephone. A Sotheby’s spokesperson said they were not yet able to reveal the buyer’s identity.

The "Aurora Green" is the largest Fancy Vivid green diamond ever sold at auction. The stone went under the hammer on May 31, 2016 at Christie's auction house in Hong Kong, selling for $16,818,983.

The world's largest blue diamond, an extremely rare gem known as "The Oppenheimer Blue", sold for $57.5 million at Christie's Geneva May 18, 2016, making it the most expensive diamond ever sold at auction.

The 14.62 carat Fancy Vivid stone is mounted on a platinum ring and flanked on either side by a trapeze-shaped diamond.

'The Unique Pink' is the largest Fancy Vivid pink pear-shaped diamond to ever be offered at auction.

The diamond was sold for $31.6 million by Sotheby's, at an auction in Geneva. The price makes it the most expensive Fancy Vivid pink diamond to sell at auction.

Cubic zirconia replicas of the original and a modern cut of the Kohinoor diamond, one of the oldest and most famous diamonds in the world.

The De Beers Millennium Jewel 4 has broken auction records in Asia.

The stone sold for $31.8 million, which makes it the most expensive piece of jewelry sold at an auction in Asia.

Sotheby's auctioned this 9.54 carat ring it says belonged to child star Shirley Temple on April 19, 2016. Though it was expected to fetch between $25 million and $35 million, it failed to sell.

This 12.03-carat blue diamond fetched $48.4 million at auction on November 11, 2015. It was previously the world's most expensive price-per-carat diamond sold.

The fancy, vivid blue diamond was discovered in South Africa in January last year.

In recent years, other high-value diamonds have hit the auction block. The 59.60-carat oval cut pink diamond known as "The Pink Star," went for $80 million at a 2013 Sotheby's auction. However, after the buyer defaulted on payment, it was returned to Sotheby's.

This 118.28 oval white diamond became the largest sold at auction when it went for $30.6 million at a Sotheby's auction in 2013.

In April 2015, a 100-carat, emerald cut, D color, internally flawless diamond -- the largest of its clarity and cut to ever be shown at auction -- sold for $22 million.

The 76.02-carat 400-year-old Archduke Joseph diamond set a new record for price per carat for a colorless diamond in 2012, when it sold for $21.5 million at a Christie's auction.

In 2010, Hong Kong's largest jewelry retailer, Chow Tai Fook, bought one of the world's largest rough diamonds for $35.3 million.

Jeweler Wallace Chan and a team of craftsman worked 47,000 hours to transform the stone it into this piece, which Chai Tai Fook estimates could be worth $200 million.

A look at some of the world's most famous diamonds

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“It is difficult to imagine a diamond that better illustrates the term vivid pink than this outstanding stone…the color is simply astonishing,” David Bennett, worldwide chairman of Sotheby’s International Jewellery, said in a statement announcing the sale.

Trace the journey of one of the world’s rarest and largest diamonds

Sparkling record breakers

The most expensive pink diamond ever to sell at auction remains the 24.78 carat ‘Graff Pink,’ which sold for $46.2 million at Sotheby’s in November 2010.

However, yesterday’s ‘Unique Pink’ sale eclipsed the previous record for a fancy vivid pink diamond, set by the ‘Sweet Josephine’ at a Christie’s auction in November 2015.

That 16.08 carat diamond sold for $28.5 million to Hong Kong billionaire, Joseph Lau, who purchased it for his then 7-year-old daughter, Josephine.

Billionaire buys world’s most expensive diamond for his 7-year-old

As colorful as these diamonds may be, they pale in comparison to the diamond Lau purchased for his daughter at a Sotheby’s auction the very next day.

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That 12.03 carat blue sparkler, dubbed the “Blue Moon of Josephine”, sold for an eye-watering $48.4 million, making it the world’s most expensive diamond ever.

But that record may soon be challenged, with the 14.62 carat ‘Oppenheimer Blue’ – the world’s largest vivid blue diamond ever to be sold at auction – going under the hammer at a Christie’s auction in Geneva on Wednesday night.