Only 1% of all pink diamonds are larger than 10 carats.
The world’s largest vivid purple-pink diamond is up for auction on November 11 at Sotheby’s Geneva. Ticking the fancy, vivid and flawless boxes, the 14.83-carat stone comes with an (unsurprisingly) hefty price-tag: CHF 21-34 million ($23-38 million).
History calls for rock-sized diamonds to be given romantic names – take Blue Moon of Josephine or the Kohinoor (Mountain of Light) – and the tradition continues here. This ultra rare diamond goes by The Spirit of the Rose, named after a popular Russian ballet, Le Spectre de la Rose. Cut from the largest pink crystal ever mined in Russia (specifically, a mine in Sakha, northeast Russia), the clear pink rough diamond was called ‘Nijinsky’ after the Kiev-born Polish ballet dancer and choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky. Nijinsky is universally known and recognized for his Ballets Russes performance of Le Spectre de la Rose.
“The occurrence of pink diamonds in nature is extremely rare in any size. Only 1% of all pink diamonds are larger than 10 carats and only 4% of all pink diamonds are graded 'Fancy Vivid' and display a rich, vivid color,” said Gary Schuler, worldwide chairman of Sotheby’s jewelry division.
See also: The World's 10 Most Expensive Diamonds
Pink diamonds are increasing in value faster than those of any other color, according to the non-profit organization Fancy Color Research Foundation, which found that prices grew by 116% between 2010 and 2019. Pink diamonds are thought to occur because of a distortion in the diamond’s crystal lattice, which is created by intense heat and great pressure after the stone’s formation in the earth.
Originally, ‘Spirit of the Rose’ was meant to come to market in November 2019. This year, Sotheby’s has timed the sale to coincide with the closure of the Argyle mine in Australia.
See also: Barnebys’ Guide to Diamonds
The Argyle Grave has been the main source of pink diamonds: 90% of the world’s pink diamonds come from it. The mine has been the only consistent source of rare pink diamonds since the 1980s, but has faced rapid depletion in recent years. Due to the very limited supply of large pink diamonds, this accounts for the demand for, and price of, such colored stones rising in the past decade.
The record for the most expensive diamond ever sold at auction is a pink diamond: the Pink Star Diamond, which also sold at Sotheby’s, this variation weighing 59.6 carats. Following a bidding war in 2013, diamond dealer Isaac Wolf won with a bid of $83.2 million. In February of the following year, it was announced that Wolf could not pay for the stone. Sotheby's, which guaranteed the seller a minimum of $60 million, had to buy the stone for that price. In April 2017, the diamond was auctioned again. This time, it was purchased by Hong Kong jeweler Chow Tai Fook for nearly $71 million.
