To mark the newly-designated World Diamond Day (April 8), we present some of the most expensive diamonds to ever appear at auction. Discover them all below.
Read More: Discover the 28.88 Jwaneng diamond due to be auctioned later this month
What better excuse do we need to read about some of the world’s brightest, sparkliest and most expensive diamonds ever sold than World Diamond Day?
Introduced by the Natural Diamond Council to highlight the beauty, provenance and cultural significance of natural diamonds “and the moments they represent”, World Diamond Day is designed to spark global participation with social media users encouraged to share stories of special moments in their lives that have been marked by diamonds.
And because no gemstone captivates our imaginations quite like a dazzling diamond – particularly a rare, vividly colourful or spectacularly enormous specimen – we’ve rounded up a selection of the most expensive diamonds that have ever appeared at auction. Feast your eyes.
The CTF Pink Star
The oval-shaped CTF Pink Star diamond smashed all previous sales records when it appeared at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong in April 2017. Weighing 59.60 carats, the fancy vivid pink internally flawless stone was sold to luxury Chinese jeweller Chow Tai Fook, who offered a phenomenal US$71.2 million (£56.8 million) for it, making it the single most expensive diamond ever auctioned. It originally hailed from a 132.5-carat rough stone, mined in 1999, and took two years to cut and polish.
The Williamson Pink Star
Sitting just behind the incredible CTF Pink Star in the cost stakes, the 11.15-carat Williamson Pink Star was sold for US$57.7 million to a private collector in a stand-alone auction in 2022.
The cusion-cut fancy vivid-pink stone began life as a 32.32-carat rough discovered at the Willamson mine in Tanzania, and was classified as ‘internally flawless’ by the GIA, who described it as “amongst the rarest of all gemstones.”
The Oppenheimer Blue
Classified as a vivid blue, this emerald-cut, 14.62-carat diamond achieved US$57.5 million at a Christie’s auction in 2016. Named for its previous owner, Sir Philip Oppenheimer, the incredible stone was snapped up by an anonymous buyer after a ferocious 20-minute bidding war over the telephone.
The Blue Moon of Josephine
Originally a 29.62-carat rough unearthed in South Africa in 2014, the faceted Blue Moon weighed 12.03 carats when it went to auction at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong the following year. Considered one of the most flawless and intense blue diamonds ever discovered, it was bought by local billionaire Joseph Lau for his daughter, Josephine, for US$48.4 million and renamed in her honour.
The Graff Pink
This fancy intense pink diamond weighing 24.78-carats remains one of the most valuable pinks to date. Sold by the New York jeweller Harry Winston, it hit the auctioneer’s block at Sotheby’s in Geneva in November 2010, where it garnered just over US$46 million before the gavel came down. It was bought by another jeweller, Laurence Graff, who had it renamed the Graff Pink. Before the sale, this sparkling specimen hadn’t been seen on the market in six decades
The Princie Diamond
Another historic pink, the cushion-cut fancy intense pink ‘Princie Diamond’ was sold by Christie’s in New York for over US$39.3 million back in April 2013.
The 34.65-carat stone traced its lineage to the Nizams of Hyderabad, who ruled the southern central state in India and its famed Golconda mines which once produced some of the most famous and desirable diamonds in the world, reserved for solely for kings and princes. In 1960, it found its way to the house of Van Cleef & Arpels and was named ‘The Princie’ by Pierre Arpels at a party in Paris thrown for the young Prince of Baroda.
The Orange
Known simply as ‘The Orange’, this fancy vivid orange pear-cut diamond weighs in at 14.82 carats, making it is the largest of its kind known in the world. It sold for $53.5 million (£22 million) when it was auctioned by Christie’s Geneva in November 2013 – that’s almost double its pre-sale estimate of $17 – $20 million.
The Magnificent Oval Diamond
Another blockbuster diamond sold by Sotheby’s in Hong Kong, the 118.28-carat Magnificent Oval (also known as the Sotheby’s Hong Kong Magnificent Oval) was an oval-shaped, D-colour flawless stone which was auctioned back in 2013. The entire sale took just six minutes and closed at US$30.8 million (£19.1 million). Pre-sale estimates of the diamond, which had been given the highest quality rating by the Gemological Institute of America, were between US$28-35 million.
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