Rare pink diamond world record price sold in auction

HONG KONG (AP) – A pink diamond sold for $49.9 million in Hong Kong on Friday, setting the world record for the highest price per carat for a diamond sold at auction.

An 11.15-carat Williamson Pink Star diamond auctioned by Sotheby’s Hong Kong sold for $392 million in Hong Kong dollars ($49.9 million). It was originally estimated at $21 million.

The Williamson Pink Star takes its name from two mythical pink diamonds. The first is the 23.60-carat Williamson diamond that was presented as a wedding gift to the late Queen Elizabeth II in 1947, while the second is the 59.60-carat Pink Star diamond that sold for a record $71.2 million at auction in 2017.

Williamson Pink Star is the second largest pink diamond to come up for auction. Pink diamonds are the rarest and most valuable of the colored diamonds.

“This is an astonishing result, proving the resilience of top diamonds in a volatile economy,” said Tobias Cormind, managing director of 77 Diamonds.

“Hard assets like world-class diamonds have a history of performing well in times of volatility,” he said. “The prices of some of the world’s highest quality diamonds have more than doubled in the past 10 years.”