New Delhi:
A pink diamond called the Pink Legacy is all set to break the diamond records. Found in 1920 at a South African mine, this exceptionally rare 19-carat pink diamond is the first diamond of its kind that has been found to have the highest possible grade of colour intensity. A fortune of wealth once owned by the Oppenheimer family, which for decades ran the De Beers diamond mining company the pink stone is to go under the hammer in Geneva Tuesday, which could fetch $50 million (44 million euros), setting a new record for a stone of its kind.
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Christie's international head of jewellery, Rahul Kadakia, described the Pink Legacy as "one of the world's greatest diamonds". Pink diamonds are one of the world’s rarest diamond and you don’t easily come by one with 10 carats in the salesroom, fancy vivid pink diamonds diamond experts went on to say.
The Pink Legacy has the highest possible grade of colour intensity
They are "virtually unheard of" is what experts say about the colour intensity. Plus, the classic rectangular cut is traditionally used for white stones and is very rare for pink diamonds making the Pink Legacy even more valuable.
Only four vivid pink diamonds or over 10 carats have ever been offered at auction. And one of them was the Pink promise, a nearly 15-carat Pink Promise, which was sold last November at a Christie's auction in Hong Kong for $32.5 million, which remains the world auction record price per carat for any pink diamond.
The Pink Legacy to aution at Four Seasons des Bergues hotel, Geneva
However, with the arrival of the Pink Legacy, there has been speculations that the battle of the pink would be intense. Eddie LeVian, CEO of jewellers Le Vian, said that record of the Pink Promise could fall at Tuesday’s Pink Legacy auction. The Pink Legacy’s auction will take place at the superfluous, Four Seasons des Bergues hotel on the banks of Lake Geneva.
"We've recently witnessed a meteoric rise in the number of the world's ultra-high net worth individuals who view rare, natural fancy colour diamonds as investments," Le Vian said in a statement.
"I therefore believe the Pink Legacy will beat the current world auction record," he added.
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"Imagine a domino that you have cut the corners off of," Jean-Marc Lunel, an international jewellery specialist at Christie's, recently told AFP, pointing out that the cut is a "classical so-called emerald cut", which stands out from the typical, more rounded, multi-facetted cuts used today.
Christie's said the Pink Legacy is "the largest and finest Fancy Vivid Pink diamond ever offered at auction by the company," calling the stone "incomparable."
"It is probably the most beautiful (specimen) ever presented at public auction," Lunel said.
