World's Most Expensive Pink Diamond

A rare pink diamond sold for a record $10.8 million in a Hong Kong auction Tuesday night,

proving the market for high-end goods in Asia hasn't lost its luster.

Demand exceeded Christie's' expectations. Last week the auction house's department head for

jewels, Vickie Sek, predicted the rock would fetch $8 million.


"Vivid Pink," as it's called, is a glittering five-carat stone flanked by two white diamonds

and set in a ring by elite jeweler Graff, owned by U.K. billionaire Laurence Graff.

The glamorous diamond toured Singapore, Bangkok, Geneva and Taipei before returning to Hong

Kong, where collectors and connoisseurs vied for it at the Convention and Exhibition Center.

An anonymous Asian buyer placed the winning bid of $83.5 million Hong Kong dollars via

telephone through a Christie's representative, beating out Shanghai millionaire Liu Yiqian,

who ranks 196th on Forbes' list of the richest people in mainland China.

It was on the block alongside 250 other gemstones, jades and pieces of jewelry in every

color of the rainbow from the likes of Cartier and Van Cleef and Arpels.

Altogether, the jewelry sale's lots brought in more than $48 million.

The night's top sale and the most expensive jewel sold at auction in 2009, the brilliant

pink stone earned top marks from the Gemological Institute of America, which rates diamonds.

It also set a world record, earning $2.1 million per carat.

The gem is unique because of its particular hue--a rich bubblegum rather than a more common

lighter rose. It is also valuable because of its saturation, the depth the color extends

into the stone.

"Stones like this--they're not just jewelry, they're artwork," Alan Bronstein, a New

York-based trader and dealer of rare colored diamonds, said last week.

Colored diamonds mined naturally are often pockmarked with flecks of other hues, like

purple, orange or gray. But this one is blemish-free, boasting an even tone throughout. Only

one in 100,000 diamonds is as special.

Two weeks ago, in Geneva, Sotheby's sold a diamond of similar size and shape, but a lighter

shade, for $1.4 million.

"It is not even close to as rare," Bronstein said.

Until now, the highest price paid at auction for a pink diamond was $7.4 million; that was

in 1994 for a 19-carat, rectangular-cut stone auctioned in Geneva.

Even though the Hong Kong, Shanghai, Seoul and Sydney stock markets are recovering faster

than their American and European counterparts, and retail sales in China are climbing at the

breakneck pace of 15% each month, some experts still question whether Asian consumers and

collectors have the appetite--not to mention the cash--for such a pricey piece of bling.

"We could have sold it in New York, but it wouldn't have done that," said Simon Teakle of

Betteridge Jewelers in Greenwich, Conn., after the hammer went down. Teakle, who represents

Vivid Pink's American seller, added that it's crucial to gauge in which market a diamond

will attract the most attention.

"People are, in fact, still buying the big-ticket items," says Ashok Soman, managing editor

of Luxury Insider, a news portal about top-of-the-line goods in Asia.

During Tuesday's auction, which dragged on more than five hours, gentlemen in dark suits and

ladies in stylish heels sipped coffee and nibbled hors d'oeurves while poring over

inch-thick glossy catalogs of the items up for bid.

Breaking the sedate mood and the monotonous inflections of the auctioneer's Swiss accent, a

buzz of excitement rippled through the room at the end of sale, as the big-ticket items

pulled in the big bucks.

Larry Warsh, a longtime art collector and founder of Museums Magazines, called the massive

surge in Chinese demand for high-end collectible goods--not just Prada shoes or a Louis

Vuitton bag, but rarer, one-of-a-kind pieces like Vivid Pink--a "once-in-a-lifetime

phenomenon."

"If you're selling any asset today, you have to think of Asia," he said. "That's where the

action is, that's where the power is, that's where the wealth is."

Take, for example, Forbes' annual ranking of the richest people in China. In 2008, 24

billionaires made the list; in 2009, that number jumped to 79. The total net worth of

China's 400 richest surged 81%, while America's wealthiest lost 20% of their cumulative

total over the same period.

"The buying behavior of the Chinese has been very aggressive, and very supportive of the art

market," Andrew Foster, president of Christie's in Asia, said in a November interview. "I

think there's straightforward optimism about where this market is going."