"It really is an exceptional gemstone, a true 'vivid', in other words one with a particularly intense colour that captures the light on all its facets," Jean-Marc Lunel, head of the jewellery division at Christie's auctioneers in Geneva told AFP during a viewing.
Described by the auctioneer as a "the largest fancy vivid orange diamond in the world", the stone is 14.82 carats and is the size of an almond.
It was found in South Africa, but the name of its seller has not been revealed by Christie's.
Pure orange diamonds, also known as "fire diamonds", are exceptionally rare in nature and very few have been auctioned, with the largest never more than six carats.
The stone will be on sale next Tuesday as part of Christie's traditional November jewellery auction in Geneva.
The following day, rival auctioneers Sotheby's are to sell a flawless 59.60-carat pink diamond, which has an estimated price of $60 million.
SOTHEBY'S
‘Biggest’ orange diamond set for Geneva auction
The largest orange diamond to come to auction will go on sale next week in Switzerland, with the rare gem expected to fetch a record $17-20 million, auctioneers said on Friday.
Published: 1 November 2013 19:45 CET
Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP
DIAMOND
Rare pink diamond to go under hammer in Geneva
An extremely rare pink diamond will be auctioned in Geneva on November 11 by Sotheby's, which says it is worth between $23 and $38 million.
Published: 8 November 2020 12:54 CET
A model poses with the “The Spirit of the Rose” diamond during a press preview on Friday. Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP
Named “The Spirit of the Rose” after a famous Russian ballet, the 14.83-carat diamond mined in Russia is the biggest ever to go under the hammer in its category — “fancy vivid purple-pink”.
The occurrence of pink diamonds in nature is extremely rare in any size,” Gary Schuler, head of Sotheby's jewellery division, said in a statement. “Only one per cent of all pink diamonds are larger than 10-carats.”
Speaking to AFP, Benoit Repellin, head of fine jewellery auctions at Sotheby's Geneva, said the oval-shaped diamond was “completely pure.”
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The rough diamond was unearthed by Russia's Alrosa — one of the world's leading diamond producers — in the Republic of Sakha in the northeast of the country in July 2017.
Repellin said it took a painstaking year for cutting masters to turn the diamond into its polished form.
Sotheby's said the world auction record for a diamond and any gemstone or jewel was the “CTF Pink Star”, a 59.60-carat oval pink diamond that sold for $71.2 million in Hong Kong in 2017.
According to Repellin, five out of the 10 most valuable diamonds ever sold at auction were pink.
The sale of this gem coincides with the closure of the world's largest pink diamond mine in Australia after it exhausted its reserves of the precious stones.
The Argyle mine, in the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia, churned out more than 90 percent of the world's pink diamonds.
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