Rare Green Diamond Ring Sets Auction Record at Christie’s Hong Kong, Sells for $3.6 Million
May 29th, 2014
A 6.13-carat fancy intense green diamond set a new auction record Tuesday when it sold at Christie’s Hong Kong for $3.6 million, or $594,510 per carat. Green diamonds are among the rarest of all colored diamonds.
The natural green cushion-cut diamond with a VS2 clarity is the centerpiece of a rose gold ring that is accented by brilliant-cut pink diamonds. The selling price was on the high side of its pre-sale estimate of $2.5 million to $3.8 million.
Green diamonds are unique because they owe their color to their exposure to radiation as they were forming in the earth eons ago, according to gem expert Antoinette Matlins.
Other colored diamonds achieve their natural color through the presence of trace elements, such as nitrogen, boron or hydrogen, in their chemical composition. Still others get their color from anomalies in their lattice structure.
The top lot of the sale — and another world auction record-setter — was a pair diamond ear pendants featuring pear-shaped, internally flawless, D-color diamonds weighing 25.49 carats and 25.31 carats, respectively. The earrings sold for $9.7 million, or $191,746 per carat.
Also garnering a lot of attention was an elegant ring highlighted by a 9.38-carat pear-shaped intense pink diamond. Mounted in platinum and rose gold, the pink diamond is flanked by pear-shaped white diamonds. The ring sold for $5.9 million.
Christie’s officials were disappointed when the most publicized piece of the sale — the “Eye of Golconda” necklace — remained unsold.
The magnificent piece, which is highlighted by not one, but two, internally flawless, D-color diamonds from the legendary Golconda mine in India, had a pre-sale high estimate of $10 million. The diamonds weigh 40.05 carats and 6.76 carats, respectively.
Among the famous diamonds that are believed to have come from the Golconda mine are the Koh-i-noor, the Darya-i-Nur, the Nur-ul-Ain and The Hope Diamond.
Photos: Chrisite's
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