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Auctions

Pink Diamond Stars at Sotheby’s Hong Kong

Sotheby’s set a new world auction record for any diamond or jewel at its spring Hong Kong Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite sale.

By Mary Kavanagh
The final LOT of the Hong Kong Sotheby’s spring sale was the highly anticipated Pink Star, which proved well worth the wait. There wasn’t a vacant seat and scarcely standing room as people lined the walls at the back to see the 59.60-carat oval mixed-cut internally flawless fancy vivid pink diamond go under the hammer. And it didn’t disappoint. Bidding started at $56.6 million, with the hammer falling to applause at $71,192,517 million* — $1,194,505 per carat — after three potential buyers engaged in an intense five-minute bidding session for possession of this rare gemstone. A new world record for the most valuable jewel ever sold at auction was set, as well as a new record for the most valuable item ever sold at auction in Asia.
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   The buyer, Hong Kong–based Chow Tai Fook (CTF), one of the world’s largest jewelry retailers by market value, promptly renamed the stone the CTF Pink Star in honor of the late Dr. Cheng Yu-Tung, father of the current chairman and founder of CTF, and the brand’s eighty-eighth anniversary — 88 being an auspicious number in Chinese culture.
   “We are delighted to have the CTF Pink Star added to our rarest collection of jewelry masterpieces,” a company spokesperson said. In 2016, the company purchased a rare 5.03-carat vivid green diamond, the Aurora Green, at auction and in 2010, it acquired the Cullinan Heritage, a 507-carat rough diamond, which was cut and polished over the course of three years and subsequently transformed into A Heritage in Bloom necklace by jewelry artist Wallace Chan.
   The CTF Pink Star is the largest internally flawless fancy vivid pink diamond ever graded by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) and smashed the previous record for a fancy vivid pink diamond set by the Unique Pink, a 15.38-carat pear-shaped fancy vivid pink diamond sold by Sotheby’s Geneva in May 2016 for $31,561,200, or $2,052,094 per carat. The previous auction record for any diamond or gemstone was held by the Oppenheimer Blue, a 14.62-carat fancy vivid blue rectangular-cut diamond, which was sold for $57,541,779 or $3,935,826 per carat by Christie’s Geneva in May 2016.
   The Pink Star was a separate lot auctioned immediately after the Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite sale. “We decided it was important to have its own catalog and sale like they do in ceramics all the time. We wanted to make sure it was a star lot all on its own,” said Quek Chin Yeow, deputy chairman of Sotheby’s Asia and chairman of international jewelry. The strategy clearly worked. Excluding the Pink Star, the April 2017 sale achieved $45,694,131 in total. The 194 lots were sold 73.2 percent by lot and 78.2 percent by value. This compares to Sotheby’s autumn 2016 sale, which brought in a total of $24,699,199 and its spring 2016 sale, which achieved a total of $73,333,013.

The Blue Surprise
   Another highlight of the sale was a 3.13-carat fancy intense blue diamond and diamond ring, which set a new world auction record price per carat for a fancy intense blue diamond, at $4,790,858 or $1,530,626 per carat, after very competitive bidding. “The blue diamond was unexpected,” said Quek, who highlighted that colored and white diamonds featured strongly in the top ten — with all bought by private Asian collectors, except for the fancy intense blue diamond, which was purchased by Asian trade.
   Among the top lots was an 11.44-carat fancy orangy-pink diamond ring, which was bought for $2,792,790, or $244,125 per carat. A fancy intense purple-pink diamond and diamond ring weighing 3.30 carats was bought for $2,561,130, or $776,100 per carat. A 3.74-carat fancy vivid purplish pink diamond ring was bought for $2,329,470, or $622,853 per carat.
   White diamonds also dominated the sale. “The whites did extremely well. That was beyond our expectations,” Quek said. “We took in quite a few. All the top lots and even the smaller lots were sold. The white diamond market was very pleased with our results.”

An Upswing
   Bidding was generally competitive throughout the sale, with active in-room participation, buzzing telephone lines and online bidders, too. “The telephones were very strong this time,” Quek said, noting that there were also a couple of high-value bids online. “The mood was very upbeat. We had a very high attendance and everyone thought the mood was good,” he added. Apart from the sale of the Pink Star, all but one of the top lots were bought by private collectors from Asia, continuing the trend of the past few years. “We had some new buyers in the top ten. Art, jewelry, and diamonds are now considered to be asset classes, so people are more comfortable expanding their portfolio to include these things,” Quek said.
   The sale was undoubtedly a positive start to the auction season. “I think people are taking it as an indicator to say the market should be better, but auctions are strange creatures,” concluded Quek, noting that results can be volatile.
*All prices include buyer’s premium.

Article from the Rapaport Magazine - May 2017. To subscribe click here.
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