He had to make sparks. But “The Rock”, a white diamond of 228.31 carats, the largest ever sold at auction, was sold on Thursday for 17.8 million euros, less than its estimate and far from a record in its category.
Auctioneer Rahul Kadakia, international head of Christie’s jewelery department, lowered his hammer to CHF 18.6 million ($24.8 million) after just minutes of bidding, to applause despite everything, in a full house in a Geneva palace.
The hammer price does not include the buyer’s premium (commission) which Christie’s was yet to disclose later. It was estimated between 20 and 30 million dollars.
AFP
With 228.31 carats, the gemstone, whose seller is from North America but who remains anonymous, had everything to seduce gemstone enthusiasts and investors.
“It is a truly exceptional pear-shaped diamond” and “it is perfectly symmetrical”, explained to AFP Max Fawcett, head of the jewelry department at Christie’s in Geneva, a few days before the sale.
According to the expert, there is only a “handful” of diamonds of this ilk.
The latest record for a similar white diamond (163.41 carats) brought the stone to $33.7 million (price including buyer’s premium) – or $206,236 per carat, at a sale in November 2017 in Geneva. According to Christies, this was a record for all auction houses combined.
“The Rock” measures 3.1 cm wide by 5.4 cm long, is taller than a golf ball, and also weighs, at 61.3 grams, more than a tennis ball. Extracted from a mine in South Africa in the early 2000s, it was then sold by Christie’s as part of an over-the-counter sale to a private collector.
AFP
“The Rock” is not the only star of these auctions.
“The Red Cross Diamond,” a 205.07-carat cushion-shaped canary yellow diamond, is also on offer. The sale should be driven by the very particular context, at a time when the war in Ukraine is once again bloodying the Old Continent.
“It is estimated between 7 and 10 million Swiss francs. I expect him to achieve fantastic results when selling. Much of the proceeds from its sale will be donated to the International Committee of the Red Cross,” Fawcett said.
The original gem was mined in 1901 at a De Beers company’s South African mine and is said to have weighed around 375 carats, according to Christie’s. As well as ranking among the largest diamonds in the world, a striking feature of the stone is its pavilion, which is naturally faceted in the shape of a Maltese cross.
On April 10, 1918, the stone was first offered for sale at Christie’s in London by the Diamond Syndicate, to benefit the British Red Cross Society and the Order of St. of Malta).
At the time, the diamond went for 10,000 pounds (about 600,000 pounds today, or over $956,000). It had been bought by the famous London jeweler SJ Phillips.
On November 21, 1973, it was put up for sale again at Christie’s in Geneva, for 1.8 million francs. It is now offered for the third time by Christie’s.
The seller wished to remain anonymous but released this statement: “For nearly half a century, our family has had the privilege of keeping the Red Cross Diamond. (…) At this auspicious moment in history, we honor the call that others have made before us”.