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Pink diamond breaks auction record; sells for $49.9 million

The first Williamson diamond was presented to late Queen Elizabeth II as a wedding gift in 1947

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A pink diamond was sold for $49.9 million in Hong Kong on Friday, setting a world record for the highest price per carat for a diamond sold at auction.

The 11.15-carat Williamson Pink Star diamond, auctioned by Sotheby’s Hong Kong, sold for $392 million Hong Kong dollars ($49.9 million). It was originally estimated at $21 million.

The Williamson Pink Star draws its name from two legendary pink diamonds. The first is the 23.60-carat Williamson diamond which was presented to the late Queen Elizabeth II as a wedding gift in 1947, while the second is the 59.60-carat Pink Star diamond that sold for a record $71.2 million at auction in 2017.

The Williamson Pink Star is the second-largest pink diamond to appear at auction. Pink diamonds are among the rarest and most valuable of the coloured diamonds.

“When you consider an alluring link to Queen Elizabeth, the rising prices for pink diamonds thanks to their increasing rarity, and the backdrop of an unstable global economy, this diamond could prove to be a very compelling proposal for the right person,” said Tobias Kormind, managing director of 77 Diamonds.

“Hard assets such as world-class diamonds have a history of performing well. Some of the world’s highest quality diamonds have seen prices double over the last 10 years,” he said.