(Photography and Image Credits to Christie's Auction House)
Today, let's take a quick look at some of the most prominent pink diamonds ever to have been offered at Christie's- one of the top auctioneers in the jewelry industry.
Throughout the years, several large specimens of gem-quality pink diamonds have passed through their doors, but here are 10 of the most ground-breaking items, listed by value from least to greatest.
Harry Winston, one of the most well known jewellers in all of history, mounted this large diamond on an 18k gold ring. His son later named it the Martian Pink, not for any alien appearance, but from a satellite launch in 1976, bound for a photography journey towards Mars- the red planet.
A 5.18ct Fancy Vivid Pink rectangular cut diamond, was sold for $10,709,443 in 2015.
This very curiously designed ring allowed the main stone to be surrounded by colorless diamonds in an oval-array. The piece was undoubtedly the main attraction at Christie's Magnificent Jewels event back in May of 2015 (Geneva).
The 5.00ct 'Vivid Pink', which was named simply after its grade of Fancy Vivid Pink, was sold for $10,776,660 in 2009.
Paired with two shield-cut diamonds, the consciously named 'Vivid Pink', rests on a platinum and rose gold ring that was designed by the famed Jeweller Lawrence Graff. Eventually it sold for a record-breaking price at the time- after being auctioned in Hong Kong.
The 19.07ct 'Grand Mazarin' (pictured above), is a Light-Pink brilliant cut diamond, that was sold for $14,461,250 in 2017.
Square cuts are quite popular for colored diamonds today, but this particular jewel spent 225 years as part of France's crown jewels, coming into the possession of several royal leaders including four kings, four queens and two empresses.
The 9.00ct 'Clark Pink', a Fancy Vivid cushion shaped purplish pink diamond, was sold for $15,762,500 in 2012.
Since the 1940's, this beautiful stone was kept away in the vaults of a bank. It formerly belonged to Huguette M. Clark who was an American mining heiress during her time. At one point, this pink diamond was the most expensive to ever be exhibited at auction within the U.S.
A 9.14ct Fancy Vivid Pink pear-shaped diamond, that sold for $18,174,632 in 2016.
This prime example of pink color in a diamond, is mounted between baguette cut diamonds on a ring crafted from platinum. It's said that only one in 10 million pink diamonds suitable for polishing, will go on to possess a color saturated enough to be graded at the ‘Fancy Vivid’ level.
The 14.23ct 'Perfect Pink' (pictured above), is a Fancy Intense rectangular pink diamond, which was sold for $23,165,968 back in 2010.
When this particular stone was sold in 2010, only 18 pink diamonds over the weight of 10cts were documented to have ever been exhibited at auction. This stone further differentiated itself from others by being the only one to be graded at the fancy intense pink level (during the time).
The 16.08ct 'Sweet Josephine', a cushion-shaped Fancy Vivid Pink diamond, which sold for $28,523,925 in 2015.
Another record-breaker of its time, the 'Sweet Josephine' was documented to be the largest cushion shaped fancy vivid pink diamond to be exhibited at auction (2015). It rests surrounded by double strands of smaller colorless melee diamonds that accent its bold, yet elegant appearance.
The 14.93ct 'Pink Promise' (pictured above), is an oval-shaped Fancy Vivid Pink diamond, that was sold for $32,480,500 in 2017.
Originally, this stone was graded at the fancy intense level, but then jeweller Stephen Silver re-cut it from 16.21ct to 14.93ct (2013). This allowed the stone's color to be portrayed better face-up, eventually garnering a new grade of fancy vivid pink.
The 34.65ct 'Princie', a cushion shaped Fancy Intense Pink diamond, which sold for $39,323,750 in 2013.
The famous Princie diamond was actually discovered 300 years ago in the country of India, and it was initially owned by the Nizams of Hyderabad. It was also first purchased for £46,000 by design house Van Cleef & Arpels (1960) at auction.
Christie's lauched way back in 1766, and was founded by James Christie. The British auction company holds its main offices in London, as well as New York City. Aside from spectacular jewelry, they also engage in very influential luxury fields- such as fine art, antiques, wines and horologie. At the current time, Christie's is owned by a company called Groupe Artemis.
