Spring 2017 Auction Updates: The Most Expensive Gem Ever and Other Records
July 17, 2017
The spring 2017 auction season saw two important price records fall and solid, if not rising, prices for top gems across the board
In April, the news was the Pink Star, the 59.60 carat (ct) GIA-graded Fancy Vivid pink diamond that sold for $71.2 million at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, setting the record for the most expensive gemstone ever sold at auction. The diamond is a record-holder in itself, being the largest-known Fancy Vivid pink diamond. Its appearance on the block set bloggers and reporters into action around the world.
The diamond was originally named the Steinmetz Pink, after the firm that purchased and cut the 132.5 ct rough. After it was unveiled in 2003, the stone was exhibited at the Smithsonian Institution with six other extraordinary fancy color diamonds.
The diamond was sent to Sotheby’s in the fall of 2013 where it achieved a top bid of $83 million from a New York diamond cutter. This was nearly double the previous record – a different pink diamond bought by London jeweler Laurence Graff in 2011. After several months, however, the buyer was unable to pay for it, so the diamond was returned to the auction house’s vault until this year.
Bidding on the pink gem was spirited until it approached the $70 million mark, when Hong Kong retail giant Chow Tai Fook called the winning amount and announced it was renaming it the Pink Star.
While news reports noted the world record price for a gemstone, the diamond’s per-carat price, $1.2 million, was actually well under the prevailing market price for similar rare colored diamonds.
The similarly graded 24.78 ct Graff pink sold for $46 million in 2011 at $1.85 million per carat. The previous price record holder, the 14.62 ct Fancy Vivid blue Oppenheimer Blue diamond, brought $57 million in 2015, for $3.93 million per carat – still below the world record price per carat. Both also were graded by GIA.
That record is held by the 12.03 ct Blue Moon diamond, graded by GIA, which sold in 2015 for $48.4 million, or $4.01 million per carat.
Had the per-carat price of the Pink Star diamond equaled the world record, the hammer would have come down on a bid of $239 million.
The 18.04 ct Rockefeller Emerald broke the second important record by achieving the highest per-carat amount – $305,000 – for that variety of gemstone. The gem, which was sold for $5.5 million by Christie’s on June 20, was exceptionally free of the fissures found in most emeralds.
First purchased by Harry Winston, the emerald was named after John D. Rockefeller Jr., who acquired the stone in 1930 for his wife, Abby. After she died 18 years later, their son, David Rockefeller had the emerald set into a ring by designer Raymond Yard.
The previous record price for an emerald was Elizabeth Taylor’s Bulgari emerald and diamond brooch, which sold for $280,000 per carat.
Other highlights of the season included an interesting “mismatched” set of ear-pendants offered by Sotheby’s on May 16. One contains the 16 ct GIA-graded Fancy Intense pink Artemis diamond and the other the 14.54 ct GIA-graded Fancy Vivid blue Apollo diamond. The set sold for a total of $57 million: $15.3 million for the pink ($958,000 per carat) and $42.1 million for the blue ($2.9 million per carat).
Christie’s also sold the GIA-graded 92 ct D-flawless La Legende diamond for $14.98 million in May. While this was a record price for a heart-shaped diamond, its per-carat price of $163,000, fell well below other, similarly graded diamonds. The record per-carat price for a D-flawless diamond is $283,000.
While this season saw fewer records fall and prices slightly below that of pervious auction seasons, it must be noted that prices often fluctuate wildly at this extreme high level – buyers are exceptionally picky, especially those who buy for investment reasons, and the presence or absence of a single well-heeled bidder can make a huge difference in the hammer price.
Russell Shor is senior industry analyst at GIA in Carlsbad.
