Diamonds were the top sellers at Christie’s today – nothing unusual there. Number one seller was a blinding, 27-carat cushion-cut stone that sold for nearly $3.6 million to a private collector from Asia. But the next three spots went to a rarer specimen: pink diamonds. Now that’s unusual.
None came close to the $10,776,660 sale of the vivid pink diamond at Christie’s Hong Kong in December, but they were just as beautiful in their way.
#4 top seller
…this hexagonal fancy pink diamond was smaller than the other two at 3.01 carats, but its intense pink color brought $220,000/carat – for a total of $662,500.
#3 top seller
…this pear-shaped pink diamond ring was much paler, bringing about $100,000 less per carat. It was also four times larger, at 12.50 carats, so fetched a total of $1,482,500.
But the star of the pink parade and auction record setter was this…
#2 top seller
…a 10.19-carat fancy orangey-pink diamond that went to a well-known name in New York’s Diamond District, William Goldberg, for $2,322,500 – double the estimate and the highest per-carat auction price ever paid for that color, according to Christie’s.
It’s a fitting tribute to the original William Goldberg, who passed away in 2003 after a career built on spotting ultra rare diamonds-in-the-rough – like this 40.34-carat piece of pink rough (right) – and turning them into famous beauties such as the 8.9-carat Pink Muse (below).
Other diamonds that became part of Goldberg’s legend: the 137-carat Premier Rose, 102-carat Beluga, 89-carat Guinea Star, and the vividly-colored Red Shield, Pumpkin and Blue Lili (which he named after his wife).
A section of 48th Street in the Diamond District now bears Goldberg’s name – and his family is obviously determined to carry on the top-diamond tradition, whatever the (initial) cost.
First three pink diamonds courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd. 2010; final two courtesy William Goldberg Diamond Corp.