THINK PINK: Five minutes of spirited bidding. That’s all it took for the newly named Winston Pink Legacy to go under the hammer for 50.4 million Swiss francs, or $50 million, on Tuesday at the Christie’s Geneva Magnificent Jewels sale, setting a world record for the price paid per carat for a pink diamond at auction.
Harry Winston was behind the winning bid. The stone will enter the brand’s legacy collection, which began with the acquisition of the 101-carat, D flawless, Winston Legacy diamond at Christie’s in 2013, Swatch Group chairwoman and Harry Winston chief executive officer Nayla Hayek said in a statement.
The Winston Pink Legacy, a fancy vivid pink rectangular-cut diamond of 18.96 carats representing the most expensive pink diamond ever sold at Christie’s, hailed from the collection of former De Beers owner, the Oppenheimer family.
More than 30,000 people visited the auction house’s sale previews in London, Hong Kong and New York to get a glimpse of the stone. “This exceptional diamond captured the imagination of international collectors across the globe,” said Rahul Kadakia, Christie’s International head of jewelry.
Also commenting on the sale, Eddie LeVian, ceo of jeweler Le Vian, a specialist in chocolate diamonds sourced from the same soon-to-close mine as the Winston Pink Legacy, said the price fetched for the stone indicates “the diamond trade is in good health and signals the market’s sensitivity to Australia’s Argyle mine’s imminent closure in 2020.”
The Christie’s sale generated a total of 110.2 million Swiss francs.