At a Sotheby’s auction in New York on Tuesday April 21, a 100-carat diamond went up and sold for $22.1 billion according to Sotheby’s jeweler.
This classic diamond was an emerald-cut, D colored diamond the size of a walnut. The precious gem was mined by South Africa’s De Beers. Before the auction the estimated selling price was between $19 to $25 million.
The buyer of the stunning diamond, who made his purchase over the phone, remains anonymous.
Sotheby’s head jeweler, Gary Schuler described the diamond, “The color is whiter than white, it is free of any internal perfections, and so transparent that I can only compare it to a pool of water.”
This is just one of the six 100-carat and over diamonds that have been sold at the auction in the last 25 years.
One buyer from Hong Kong bid a hefty $30.6 million for a 118.28-carat white diamond at an auction in 2013.
In Geneva a pink diamond called the famous “Pink Start” set the world record price for a gemstone when it sold for $83.02 million, also in 2013.
Schuler said the diamond that sold on Tuesday is a one of kind piece, because of its beautiful size and shape and all the detailed work put into it. What was once a 200-carat diamond became 100 from the years spent to make the perfect cut.
