The 19-carat, rectangular-cut “Pink Legacy” diamond sold for a record 50.375 Swiss francs (€44.3 million, $50 million) on Tuesday at Christie’s in Geneva.
The auction house said that renowned jeweler Harry Winston was the buyer. The identity of the seller was not disclosed.
The diamond had been expected to fetch between $30 million and $50 million. The auctioneer struck down a hammer price of $44.5 million, which excludes the standard “buyer’s premium” and other fees.
Read more: ‘Oppenheimer Blue’ diamond sale breaks new records
Christie’s said the Pink Legacy achieved a new per-carat record and was the second most expensive one ever sold at auction.
Graded “vivid,” the highest rating for a pink diamond’s color, Christie’s says it’s among the most chemically pure gems. The stone is internally pure with a regular count and mounted on a platinum ring.
Read more: Colored diamonds new cash haven?
It was once owned by the Oppenheimer family, who built De Beers into the world’s biggest diamond trader.
dv/rc (AP, Reuters)
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Marie Antoinette’s jewels go on display ahead of London auction
Reemerging from history
After 200 years in private ownership, jewels once worn by Marie Antoinette are set to be auctioned off in London. Each jewel in the collection is “absolutely imbued with history,” said Daniela Mascetti of the Sotheby’s auction house.
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Marie Antoinette’s jewels go on display ahead of London auction
Marie Antoinette, a French queen from Austria
The famous queen was born in Vienna as the youngest daughter of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband Francis I. She married the French heir apparent Louis Auguste in 1770, at the age of 14, and became the queen of France four years later. With the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, Marie Antoinette was put under house arrest, and eventually executed in 1793.
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Marie Antoinette’s jewels go on display ahead of London auction
The pearl and diamond pendant
Experts believe that a natural peal measuring 26 by 18 millimeters (1 by 0.7 inches) would fetch between $1-2 million (€870,000-€1.7 million) when put up for sale in November 2018. The pearl is one of ten items in the collection once worn by the French queen.
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Marie Antoinette’s jewels go on display ahead of London auction
Royal tour
Among other items, the collection also contains a diamond brooch and a pair of Marie Antoinette’s earrings. The jewels have been displayed in Hong Kong, New York, Munich, London and other venues across the world.
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Marie Antoinette’s jewels go on display ahead of London auction
Rose diamonds and a strand of hair
The diamond ring, monogrammed MA for Marie Antoinette, contains a lock of the queen’s hair. All of the displayed items are currently held by the Italian royal House of Bourbon-Parma.
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Marie Antoinette’s jewels go on display ahead of London auction
Back in family hands
In the aftermath of the 1789 revolution, King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette made plans to flee the country. In preparation, the queen put her jewels in a wooden chest and sent them off to Brussels, where they then passed to the Austrian emperor. The escape plan failed, but the queen’s last surviving child, Marie Therese (pictured) was freed in 1795 and managed to retrieve the treasure.
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Marie Antoinette’s jewels go on display ahead of London auction
Crown jewels
Sotheby’s is also offering items owned by other historic figures, such as the diamonds which once belonged to Marie Antoinette’s friend and brother-in-law Charles X of France. The precious stones were only made into a tiara in 1912.
Author: Darko Janjevic
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