The world of high-end jewelry auctions recently witnessed a dazzling display of opulence and prestige, with events in both Hong Kong and Geneva showcasing exceptional diamonds, gemstones, and exquisite craftsmanship.
Petra Diamonds recently made headlines with the sale of an exceptional US$8.2 million blue diamond, propelling its fifth tender of FY 2024 to new heights. Despite selling fewer carats, Petra achieved higher prices, with an average of US$136 per carat on sales of 362,000 carats, totaling US$49 million.
Storm Mountain Diamonds announced yesterday the recovery of a rare fancy intense pink diamond weighing 108.39ct at its Kao mine in the Kingdom of Lesotho. The stone was discovered earlier this year on March 23rd, 2023.The exceptionally rare Type IIa gemstone is one of the largest pink diamonds in history to have been recovered.
Selling to an undisclosed buyer at the Sotheby’s auction house in Hong Kong, the Williamson Pink Star diamond sold at 58 million dollars, fetching more than double the anticipated sales price. The pastel-hued diamond was named in honor of two other pink diamonds, the CTF Pink Star, which sold for $71.2 million in 2017, and the "Williamson" diamond, a pink diamond gifted to Queen Elizabeth II.
The pink colored 11.15-carat diamond is a rare find among gem quality stones and was discovered at the well-known Mwadui mines in Tanzania.
Australian miner Lucapa discovered a massive 170ct pink diamond at its Angolan Lulo mine, believed to be the largest pink recovered in the past 300 years. The incredibly rare find is named "The Lulo Rose".
1,5 years after the closing of the famous Argyle mine in Western Australia, which produced the vast majority of the world’s fancy pink diamonds, Rio Tinto announces a partner program that will continue the legacy of the Argyle Pink Diamonds brand, releasing the names of the first two “Icon Partners”, John Calleija and Joh Glajz, both having worked with Argyle’s precious pink diamonds for decades.
Fintech company Luxus this week launched a platform where it plans to offer investment grade diamonds, fractionalized into smaller shares, modeled after fractionalized investing models such as the art platform Masterworks. The first diamond the company wants to list is an Argyle pink valued at US$400k, divided into 2,000 shares of US$200 each, pending SEC approval this month. Luxus gathered US$2.5m in seed money last summer and is the brainchild of former Blackstone managing director Dana Auslander and luxury PR specialist Gretchen Gunlocke Fenton.
Today the step-cut fancy-vivid blue diamond weighing 15.10 carats sold for (450.9 million HKD) US$57.47 million, or over US$3.8 million per carat, at Sotheby's Hong Kong auction.
Gem Diamonds recovered a 114-carat Type 1 yellow diamond on 9 December 2019, the miner reported this afternoon. It is the 11th diamond weighing more than 100 carats to be recovered at the Letšeng mine in Lesotho in 2019, and the fourth yellow diamond that tops the 100-carat milestone. The miner recovered a 114.2-carat yellow diamond from the mine in August, as well as a 135- and 134-carat yellow earlier this year. Letšeng is renowned for known for yielding large, high-quality stones.
Photo credit: Envato Elements
Alrosa held a tender for polished diamonds in New York this June, earning $3 million from the sale of 20 polished diamonds with total weight of 140.4 carats for an average value of approximately $21,430 per carat. The diamonds on tender included 8 gemstones of standard color and 12 fancy colored polished diamonds, most of them with Fancy Yellow and Fancy Intense Yellow characteristics.