Flawless Diamond Sells for Record $30M at Sotheby’s

In recent years, Hong Kong's importance as a global diamond selling at auction destination has risen to the same level as Geneva and New York, said Quek Chin Yeow, the deputy chairman of Sotheby's Asia.

A Sotheby's Hong Kong sale of magnificent jewels on Monday saw a 118.28-carat, D flawless, type IIa oval-shaped diamond sell for a record $30.06 million, or $254,000 per carat.

Not only did the 118-carat stone set a record, but the sale overall, which raised $95,473,557, was a sale total record for a jewelry auction in Asia, Sotheby's.

The outstanding diamond, with had a pre-sale price range of $28 million-$35 million, was the largest oval-shaped, D, flawless or internally flawless diamond graded by the GIA and was the subject of an intense telephone war by two bidders.

The diamond comes from a 299-carat rough stone discovered at a mine in a Southern African country in 2011.

In addition to the 118-carat diamond, another highlight of the auction was a ring set with a round 7.59-carat, flawless, fancy vivid blue diamond set among brilliant-cut pink diamonds with a total weight of 1.70 carats which sold for $16.1 million.