This "impurity-free" precious stone of 10.57 carats, which was extracted in 2019 from a mine in Botswana weighing then in rough 23.78 carats, will be sold on June 8, in New York, raised to the rank of international center of the art and luxury market.
According to Sotheby's, an auction house owned by French, Moroccan and Israeli tycoon Patrick Drahi, the auction for this "Eternal Pink", valued at $ 35 million, will be held during a special week of jewelry sales.
"You are dealing with the rarest (diamond) among the rare, whose stone does not suffer any comparison," Alexander Eblen, head of jewelry sales for Sotheby's, told AFP.
"Valued at about $3.3 million per carat, or just over $35 million, this is the highest estimate per carat for a gemstone presented on the market," he added.
In a booming auction market in New York, the auction houses Sotheby's, Christie's or Philips are firing on all cylinders on sectors other than painting and sculpture, including jewelry, and clothing and movable heritage of stars of arts, letters and sports.
Sotheby's believes that this pink diamond -- among the most sought after by investors -- is "much rarer than a (painting by Belgian surrealist painter René) Magritte or a (painting by American pop art master Andy) Warhol", because of its purity and perfection.
The "Eternal Pink" diamond estimated at $ 35 million, exhibited at Sotheby's, March 27, 2023 in New York, before an auction in June © ANGELA WEISS / AFP
The current all-time record for the selling price of a pink diamond was reached in Hong Kong in 2017, at $71.2 million. And the Williamson pink diamond was also sold in Hong Kong in 2022 for $57.7 million.
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© 2023 AFP