Christie’s Geneva sale of fine jewels on Wednesday May 16, 2013 included a huge pear-shaped loose diamond that weighs a shocking 101.73 carats. The rare gem took a staggering 21 months to polish and is a D colored and flawless diamond–the largest to ever be put up for auction. The diamond was originally discovered at the Jwaneng mine in Botswana and weighed 236 carats in the rough. It fetched a record $26.7 million, or $254,400 per carat. This beat the previous record by over $10 million. Christie’s shared the good news with Twitter of the record setting diamond sale by tweeting, “A perfect diamond commands a perfect price.”
Watch and fine jewelry firm, Harry Winston Inc., was the victor in the bidding war and named the diamond the ‘Winston Legacy.’ Harry Winston Inc. was acquired by Swatch Group earlier this year. This was the first major purchase for the firm since the acquisition.
“Harry Winston acquired the most perfect diamond ever offered for sale at auction, ‘Winston Legacy,’ continuing the tradition of buying and selling only the very best, a trait of the founder Mr. Winston himself,” boasted the head of jewelry as Christie’s Americas & Switzerland, Rahul Kadakia. “World record prices were set for diamonds, pearls and sapphires, thereby firmly establishing the international appetite for the most beautiful gems and jewels in a record-breaking $102 million auction at Christie’s Geneva.”
The entire sale totaled $102.1 million and featured 20 various lots. The second highest purchase of the sale was a natural pearl necklace with a single strand that was sold for $8.5 million. The sale took place at a luxury hotel in a room that included 147 buyers from 31 different countries.