One of the world’s purest pink diamonds is expected to fetch $21 million at auction

LONDON – A rare, dazzling pink diamond is expected to sell for an estimated $21 million when it is auctioned in October, officials said.

Dubbed the ‘Williamson Pink Star’, the 11.15-carat cushion-shaped stone has been described by auction house Sotheby’s as ‘one of the purest, saturated pink diamonds in the world’.

The diamond was named after two other notable pink diamonds, including the record-breaking CTF Pink Star, a 59.60-carat oval mixed-cut diamond that sold for $71.2 million in 2017.

The Williamson Pink Star was also named in homage to the famous “Williamson” stone, a 23.60 carat cut diamond given to Queen Elizabeth II as a wedding gift in 1947. It was presented to the Queen by Canadian geologist and royalist Dr. John Thorburn Williamson who owned the Williamson mine in Mwadui, Tanzania where it was discovered.

According to Sotheby’s, the Williamson Pink Star also comes from this mine in Tanzania.

A model holds the Williamson Pink Star in an image provided. (Image credit: Sotheby’s)

“The discovery of a gem-quality pink diamond of any size is an extremely rare event – something that with the recent closure of the Argyle mine until recently seemed highly unlikely,” Wenhao Yu, chairman of jewelry and watches at Sotheby’s Asia, said in a statement.

“Driven by limited supply and increasing demand, prices for high-quality large pink diamonds over 5 carats have risen exponentially over the past decade, happily setting the stage for the emergence of this unique stone,” Yu added.

The Williamson Pink Star is pictured in a provided image. (Image credit: Sotheby’s)

What exactly makes the Williamson Pink Star diamond so rare?

According to the auction house, pink is one of the rarest colors naturally occurring in diamonds.

“With its unique color, remarkable size and dazzling brilliant cut, the Williamson Pink Star is both a work of nature and a work of art that takes its place among the most fascinating colored diamonds,” said the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). in an opinion. The GIA is a non-profit organization cited by the auction house as the leading source of diamond knowledge and standards.

The Williamson Pink Star is pictured in a provided image. (Image credit: Sotheby’s)

Of all diamonds submitted to the Institute, less than 3% are classified as colored diamonds. And of that, less than 5% is considered predominantly pink, according to Sotheby’s. Coming down further, only the tiniest fraction of pink diamonds have a color strong enough to be classified as “fancy vivid pink,” which equates to the Williamson Pink Star.

“A Fancy Vivid Pink diamond weighing over 10 carats is therefore of the utmost rarity. Not only has the diamond received the highest grades of color and clarity, it has also been determined to be part of the rare sub-group comprising less than 2% of all diamonds, gemstone diamonds – known as Type IIa. Stones in this group are chemically the purest of all,” said Sotheby’s.

The Williamson Pink Star was unveiled at Sotheby’s London on Wednesday and will embark on a world tour visiting Dubai, Singapore and Taipei before arriving in Hong Kong, where it will be sold in a single lot auction on October 5.

This story was reported from Cincinnati.