A pink diamond, described as the “most important pink diamond” to ever come to market, sold for a record-breaking $34.8 million within just two minutes at an auction by Sotheby’s New York on Thursday afternoon.
The Eternal Pink is a 10.57-carat diamond that’s said to have a “flawless” clarity. Mined in 2019 at the Damtshaa mine in Botswana, the diamond has since been fashioned into a cushion cut and set in a ring. Beyond its high quality, its stand-out feature is undoubtedly its electric “bubblegum” pink color.
The science behind this vivid coloration is not known, further adding to the object’s appeal to consumers. Typically, diamonds become colored through the presence of trace elements, such as boron which gives diamonds a blue hue. Oddly, however, pink diamonds do not contain any trace elements.
“The best explanation available today is that the color is the result of stress at the atomic level. Diamonds form deep within the earth’s mantle, where intensely high pressures and temperatures compress carbon atoms into a strong crystal lattice structure. Powerful volcanic eruptions displace these diamonds and bring them up into the earth’s crust where they may remain for millions of years before erosion washes them into waterways or they are excavated by miners,” Sotheby’s explained on their webpage about the Eternal Pink.
It’s also exceptionally rare to find a diamond larger than 10 carats that is free of other minerals and impurities, making the Eternal Pink even more desirable.
It wasn’t the only record-breaking object that Sotheby’s put under the hammer on Thursday. A 55.22-carat Mozambique ruby known as the “Estrela de Fura” also sold for a matching price of $34.8 million.
The new owners of both jewels remain unknown as Sotheby’s didn’t disclose their identities.
The Eternal Pink is considered to be one of the “most important” and attractive pink diamonds in the world, but it isn’t the largest. In 2022, the largest raw pink diamond ever discovered was unearthed in the Lunda Norte region of Angola. Called the “Lulo Rose,” the pink diamond is a whopping 170 carats.
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