Pink Star: Most valuable diamond ever to be sold at auction goes on show in London

The 59.6-carat gem is considered one of earth's greatest natural treasures and is expected to sell for £48.4 million
The pink star diamond
PA
Francesca Gillett20 March 2017

One of the world’s rarest and most expensive cut diamonds has gone on display in London.

The Pink Star is the most valuable cut diamond ever to be auctioned and is expected to sell for more than £48.4 million.

The 59.6-carat coloured gemstone, which is described as one of earth’s greatest natural treasures, was sold for more than £52 million at an auction in Switzerland in 2013 but is back on the market after the sale defaulted.

The most expensive diamond ever to be sold at auction is the Oppenheimer Blue, which was bought for £35 million at Christie’s auction house in Geneva last year.

Rare: The most valuable cut diamond ever to be offered at auction is on show in London.
PA

David Bennett, from Sotheby's, said: "At a time of unprecedented demand for the finest in coloured diamonds, I am delighted to be bringing this magnificent stone back to the market.

Up for auction: The valuable gemstone is considered one of the world's greatest natural treasures.
PA

"The extraordinary size of this 59.60-carat diamond, paired with its richness of colour, surpasses any known pink diamond recorded in history."

The diamond is on display at Sotheby's in London before the diamond’s sale on April 4 in Hong Kong.

Mined by De Beers in Africa in 1999, the 132.5-carat rough diamond was cut and polished over a period of two years.

Reporting by Press Association.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in