Following the successful re-sale (it was auctioned once but the buyer defaulted) of the CTF Pink Star diamond in April for $71m, Sotheby’s has returned to the rarified colored diamond market with another pink diamond about two-thirds the size of the CTF Pink Star.
The Raj Star was discovered in 2015. It weighs 37.3 carats and carries a $20-30m estimate range before the November 15th sale in Geneva:
The Gemological Institute of America (GIA), which certified the diamond, characterized it as an “astonishing stone”, describing its hue as “a very bright and ravishing fancy intense pink color”. It continued, “For a diamond to display strong, unmodified pink color like that observed in The Raj Pink is rare, particularly at so considerable a weight”.The discovery of a gem-quality pink diamond of any size is an extremely rare occurrence. Of all diamonds submitted to the GIA each year, less than 0.02% are predominantly pink.