Flawless 102-carat white diamond goes under the hammer in Hong Kong 

One of the world’s rarest diamonds is heading for auction in Hong Kong and is expected to fetch between $11 million to $33 million.

The 102.39-carat white diamond, which is about the size of an egg or a large lollipop, will go under the hammer at a single-lot auction on October 5 at Sotheby’s. 

Only seven such diamonds, known in the trade as D colour flawless or internally flawless white diamonds, with more than 100 carats have previously been sold at auction. 

Quig Bruning, Sotheby’s New York head of jewellery, said the auction house was offering the egg-shaped stone without a pre-sale estimate but explained diamonds of this caliber had previously sold anywhere between $11 million to $33 million.

The rare diamond, which is expected to fetch between $11 million to $33 million, is know in the trade as D colour flawless or internally flawless white diamonds

Pictured: An model hold the large oval diamond during a media preview at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong

He told AFP: ‘Historically, diamonds of this caliber and this size have sold anywhere from about $11 million up to $33 million.

‘We’re offering without reserve and without estimate meaning the highest bid will be the winning bid with no minimum price.’ 

Bidding for the gem, which is the second largest oval diamond of its kind to ever appear at an auction at Sotheby’s, began on September 15 with a starting price of one Hong Kong dollar or 13 US cents.

Mr Bruning added: ‘Diamonds, like anything else, aren’t immune to market fluctuations’  

Earlier this month, Gary Schuler, worldwide chairman of jewellery at Sotheby’s, said: ‘More and more people have come to understand that something billions of years old and of the size of a lollipop can store as much value as a Rembrandt self-portrait or a Basquiat.’ 

Sotheby’s said the gem was cut from a 271-carat rough that was discovered at the Victor Mine in the Canadian province of Ontario in 2018 and cut and polished for more than a year.

Bidding for the diamond began on September 15 with a starting price of one Hong Kong dollar or 13 US cents

The rare gem is about the size of an egg or a large lollipop and is expected to fetch $12 million to $30 million

Only seven such diamonds – known in the trade as D colour flawless or internally flawless white diamonds, over 100 carats – have previously been sold at auction 

Two of the most famous large diamonds – the Koh-i-Noor and The Cullinan 1 – belong to the British monarchy and form part of the British Crown Jewels.

The world record for any diamond or jewel sold at auction was set in 2017 when a 59.60-carat vivid pink diamond was sold for $71.2 million to the Hong Kong jewellery company Chow Tai Fook, Sotheby’s said.     

In 2013, a pink diamond weighing 59.60 carats went under the hammer at Sotheby’s for $83 million.

Meanwhile in November, during a Christie’s auction in Hong Kong, the nearly 15-carat Pink Promise was sold for $32.5 million.

In 2018, the ‘Pink Legacy’ diamond weighing just under 19 carats fetched a record 50.375 million Swiss francs ($50 million) when it was auctioned for the first time ever at Christie’s.

An employee at the auction house Sotheby’s poses with the flawless white carat diamond

The 102.39-carat white diamond is not being offered with a pre-sale estimate but previous gems like it have sold between $11 million to $33 million

The diamond will be sold in a single-lot action without a reserve price at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong on October 5

The ‘virtually unheard of’ jewel was purchased by New York-based luxury jeweller Harry Winston at the Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues in Geneva.

The company promptly renamed it ‘The Winston Pink Legacy’ and added it to its collection of rare jewels, the auction house said.

The rectangular-cut pink stone reached the top end of its value, as it had been estimated to fetch between $30 million and $50 million. It was discovered in a South African mine around a century ago and was probably cut in the 1920s.