Diamond auction may set new records

Source: AFP | September 11, 2013, Wednesday |

Print Edition

A 118.28-carat white diamond, set to break records, is to go under the hammer in Hong Kong in October, auction house Sotheby’s said yesterday.

Describing the egg-shaped gem as the “greatest” of its kind to ever appear at auction, the British firm said it could fetch US$28-35 million in the auction, where another rare yet smaller diamond will also be sold.

“It’s like (a) small chicken egg,” a Hong Kong-based Sotheby’s spokeswoman said when she described its size.

Quek Chin Yeow, deputy chairman of Sotheby’s Asia, said at Monday’s preview in London that the D color flawless gem would be the “greatest white diamond to be sold at auction.”

The firm said the sale could beat previous records at a diamond auction last year, when a 101.73-carat diamond was sold at US$26.7 million.

“The white diamond ... is a new stone. The rough was mined in 2011,” Quek said.

It was found in a deep mine in an undisclosed southern African country, where it weighed 299 carat as a rough stone.

A “Premier Blue Diamond” at 7.59 carat is also set to be auctioned off in October and could fetch up to US$19 million.

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