The 11.15-carat Williamson Pink Star diamond, an extremely rare Fancy Vivid Pink, was sold to an undisclosed buyer for 453 million Hong Kong dollars (USD 49.9 million) at Sotheby’s Hong Kong on Friday (October 7).
The cushion-shaped diamond set a new world record for the highest price per carat for a diamond sold at auction.
The Williamson Pink Star gets its name from two legendary pink diamonds: The 23.60-carat Williamson diamond which was presented to the late British Queen Elizabeth II as a wedding gift in 1947; and the 59.60-carat Pink Star diamond that sold for a record $71.2 million at auction in 2017.
Wenhao Yu, the chair of jewellery and watches at Sotheby’s Asia, said: “The discovery of a gem-quality pink diamond of any size is an extremely rare occurrence, something that – with the recent closure of the Argyle mine – seemed, until recently, highly improbable.”
