With the holiday season approaching it seems that it isn’t only jewelry sales that are picking up in world markets, but also those of large and unique diamonds.
Earlier this week we reported that Petra Diamonds sold a 68 carat white Cullinan diamond for $6.28 million, and now it's Hong Kong's turn to sell a spectacular color diamond ring for $10.8 million.
A pink, chickpea-size diamond ring was sold Tuesday for a record price of HK$83.5 million ($10.8 million). The ring was sold in a public auction of antiques, art and gemstones held in Hong Kong.
The 5-carat diamond was set by London-based jeweler Graff Diamonds, which gave it the second-highest rating for being potentially flawless.
The diamond broke the previous price fetched per carat, which was set in May when real estate tycoon Joseph Lau purchased a 7.03-carat diamond in Geneva for 10.5 million Swiss francs ($10.5 million). A carat is one-fifth a gram.
The Graff diamond was purchased by a phone buyer whose offer topped Chinese millionaire stock-investor Liu Yiqian and his wife Wang Wei, who stopped at HK$70 million. Christie's auction house, which hosted the auction, would not confirm whether the diamond was bought by a Chinese client.
The jewelry auction fetched HK$372 million, as 89% of the 255 lots sold.
"Some of the prices were crazy, way above what one would pay in a jewelery store," said Donald May, a Hong Kong-based gemstone dealer who attended the auction. "There's a lot of mainland Chinese buying; either they didn't know what the items are worth or they wanted them so badly that price didn't matter."
Francois Curiel, chairman of Christie's Europe and head of the company's jewelry department: "It's clear that Hong Kong has become one of the, if not the, most important fine jewellery centre for Christie's." Geneva is traditionally considered to be Christie's gems hub
"In Asia, more so than in other places, it is the quality, not the size, that matters most, more in Asia than elsewhere," he added. "The finest gems, even small ones, will fetch good prices in Asia, while Western markets favor bigger baubles."
Chinese buyers have become active consumers of diamond jewelry over the past few years. China is soon expected to take Japan's place as the world's second largest jewelry consumer.
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