HONG KONG – A rare 72.22-carat diamond fetched around 80 million Hong Kong dollars (10.26 million US dollars) without surprise on Thursday, making it one of the most expensive jewel items ever sold at auctions in Asia.
Buyers started bidding for the unmounted diamond at 60 million HK dollars and finally pushed the hammer price up to 73 million HK dollars (9.36 million US dollars), excluding several millions of HK dollars in buyer’s premium.
 A pear-shaped D-color flawless 72.22 carat diamond is displayed during a Sotheby’s Auction press preview in Hong Kong Monday, March 31, 2008. The diamond fetched around 80 million Hong Kong dollars (10.26 million US dollars) without surprise on Thursday April 10, making it one of the most expensive jewel items ever sold at auctions in Asia. |
The pear-shaped diamond was of D color, the clearest category, and boasts of “flawless clarity and excellent polish and symmetry”, according to Sotheby’s Hong Kong, which offered over 300 jewel and jadeite items worth some 400 million HK dollars (51.28 million US dollars) Thursday.
Sotheby’s said the buyer would be given the right to name the diamond.