Tag Archives: alrosa

The World’s Largest Purple-Pink Diamond Fetched $26.6M in Geneva

An auction in Geneva on Wednesday, 11th November 2020, made history for the sale of an ultra-rare purple-pink diamond. The event hosted by Sotheby’s showcased the extremely recherché 14.8-carat Russian diamond, readyviewed known as “The Spirit of the Rose”. Unlike 99% of pink diamonds which are under 10 carats, this stone is one of three in an original collection by Russian mining company, Alrosa.

The World’s Largest Purple-Pink Diamond Fetched $26.6M in Geneva

Taking its name from the 1911 Russian ballet “Le Spectre de la rose,” this precious jewel was cut from an even larger rough rock unearthed in 2017, and even displayed in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taipei before its sale. According to the chairman of Sotheby’s jewellery division, Gary Schuler, the diamond’s rarity is a result of its size and colour, which had been graded as “Fancy Vivid Purple-Pink.” In a measure of its clarity, this stone is classified as “internally flawless,” while belonging to a rare subgroup of diamonds that contain little to no nitrogen.

Despite earning a title as the most expensive purple-pink stone ever to sell at auction, the final price tag proved significantly lower than Sotheby’s estimates. Expecting to fetch up to $38 million, one lucky buyer went home with the world’s most valuable pink diamond for a mere $26.6 million.

By Julia Roxan

 

Alrosa Will be Auctioning Off A 51-carat “Dynasty” Diamond On Its Website

Russian mining giant Alrosa is set to auction off a huge 51-carat “Dynasty” diamond and four other high-purity diamonds with a starting price of $10 million, the company says.

The five-diamond collection seen by members of the press on Thursday was cut from a 179-carat rough diamond discovered in 2015 in one of the state-owned company’s mines in the Sakha region of eastern Siberia.

Alrosa, Russia’s top diamond producer, calls the 51.38-carat gem that is the centrepiece of the collection “the largest and purest diamond cut in the history of Russian jewellery making”.

“All five diamonds were manufactured from one rough diamond, which is an exceptional case. It took a year and a half to create the collection,” Alrosa’s president Sergei Ivanov said in a statement.

The largest diamond in the collection was named in honour of Russia’s last imperial family the Romanovs, whose rule ended a century ago in 1917 with the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II. The other gems are named after Russian aristocrat families.

The second largest diamond in the collection measures 16.67 carats, while the smallest is 1.39 carats.

After going on a tour taking in several countries, the collection is expected to be auctioned off in November via Alrosa’s website.

“Based on the auction results of Sotheby’s and Christie’s, the starting price of the collection can be no less than $10 million,” Ivanov was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.

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