Christie’s and Sotheby’s are two of the most famous auction houses in the world and they are both known for selling one of a kind artifacts as well as artwork, jewelry and diamonds. Recently, Christie’s had the opportunity to auction an extremely rare 39.34 carat diamond. The diamond was an un-mounted, cushion cut, type IIa diamond that is “D” rated in color and internally flawless. The pre-auction estimated worth of the rare diamond was between six and eight million dollars. The final selling price of the diamond was $6,873,000 to a private collector in the Middle East.This particular diamond meets all of the criteria to be considered a near perfect gemstone. The cut of the diamond is absolutely exquisite and is so balanced and even that the diamond can perfectly balance on the cutlet. Another unique feature of the rare diamond is that it has no trace of colorant nitrogen. It is estimated that only two percent of all diamonds in the world do not possess this particular chemical and it is this characteristic that gives the diamond its remarkable transparency, brilliance and sparkle.
The superiority of this particular diamond ranks it as one of the most magnificent diamonds to ever be auctioned at Christie’s. This diamond has even been compared to the famous Polar Star diamond, mainly because it has a very striking resemblance to the world famous stone.
The Polar Star diamond was owned by Russian royalty until the House of Cartier purchased it in the 1920s. The famous diamond was then sold at the Christie’s auction house in Geneva in 1980 for an astounding sum of $5.1 million.
The 39.34 carat diamond and the Polar Star are only a few of the famous diamonds that have been sold through Christie’s. Christie’s recently set a new record in the United States when it sold over fifty million dollars worth of diamonds and fine jewelry in a single auction. Another astonishing fact is that ten of the jewels that were sold at the record setting auction brought over one million dollars each, including the 39.34 carat diamond.
These famous diamonds are not the only ones to cause a stir within the famous auction houses. Sotheby’s sold an 84 carat white diamond to the founder of Guess Jeans, George Marciano, for $16.2 million dollars in 2007. George Marciano then named the diamond the “Chloe Diamond” in honor of his daughter. This diamond is currently the second most expensive piece of jewelry or gemstone to be sold at any of the auction houses. The most expensive diamond ever to be sold at an auction house was a one hundred carat diamond that was sold for $16.5 million at the same Sotheby’s division located in Geneva. This diamond set the record in May of 1995.
Christie’s already has plans to continue their tradition of selling rare diamonds. The next rare diamond that is planned to be sold be the auction house is a 101 carat golf ball sized diamond that is nearly flawless. This diamond has a pre-auction estimated value of about six million dollars and is schedule to be auctioned in Hong Kong.
While it is becoming a common thing for large, rare diamonds to bring large sums of money at the auction houses, there are some instances when these beautiful stones fail to sell when they are placed on the auction block. The most recent large diamond that failed to sell at the auction was a pear shaped 72.22 carat, “D” rated, flawless white diamond.
This diamond was placed on the auction block at the Sotheby’s auction house in Hong Kong. The exquisite diamond had a pre-auction value of between ten and twelve million dollars and once the bidding was complete, it was left unsold with a final bid of HK$73 million, which was just short of the reserve price. Even though the diamond did not sell at the auction house, a private buyer did purchase the diamond for an undisclosed amount of money.
One of the speculated reasons why the diamond did not meet the reserve price was that several international buyers were bidding on the stone, yet there was some confusion of the various international exchange rates and the auctioneer was forced to retract several of the bids.
Historically, the Hong Kong market has been very good when selling rare diamonds and many professionals in the industry are hoping that the failure of the 72.22 carat diamond is an isolated incidence and is not a sign of the diamond market beginning to decline. Several months ago, Sotheby’s sold a very rare blue diamond on the Hong Kong auction house for eight million dollars, which was calculated to be $1.3 million per carat, which makes this particular diamond the most expensive gemstone per carat.
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