Pink diamond sells for record US$46m at auction

A rare pink diamond smashed the world record for a jewel at auction on Tuesday, selling for more than US$46 million to a well-known gem dealer.

London jeweller Laurence Graff paid US$46,158,674, for the 24.78-carat "fancy intense pink" diamond, which he immediately named 'The Graff Pink'.

"It is the most fabulous diamond I've seen in the history of my career, and I'm delighted to have bought it," Graff said in a statement released by auction house Sotheby's, which offered the stone at its Geneva sale.

The sale price was almost double the US$24.3 million achieved by the blue 35.56-carat Wittelsbach-Graff diamond in 2008. That was also bought by Graff.

"This is the highest price ever bid for a jewel at auction," said David Bennett, the head of Sotheby's jewellery division, as the auction room in Geneva's luxury Beau Rivage hotel erupted into applause.

"Everybody was surprised it went that high," Mart van Drunen, a jeweller from Amsterdam, commented after the sale. "He clearly wants to have all the rarest diamonds in the world."

Rich buyers from developing countries have been dipping their hand in the high end of the market in recent years, but experts say emerging middle classes, particularly in India, are doing as much, if not more, to lift prices.

Ongoing doubts about the stock market have also helped drive up the value of gold and precious jewels, said van Drunen.

Four bidders competed for the pink diamond, which was last sold 60 years ago by New York jeweller Harry Winston. The seller chose to remain anonymous, said Sotheby's.

- AP