CTF Pink Diamond Sets New World Auction Record at Sotheby’s:
Sotheby’s set a new world auction record for any diamond or jewel on the evening of 4 April 2017 with the $71.2 million sale of the Pink Star, a 59.60-carat oval mixed-cut Fancy Vivid Pink Internally Flawless diamond. The sale of the Pink Star more than doubled the previous record for the Fancy Vivid Pink Diamond ‘Unique Pink’ and what is even more remarkable is that it marks the highest price for any jewel ever sold at auction in Asia.
The Pink Star has been renamed the CTF Pink after its acquirer, the Chinese jewellery giant Chow Tai Fook, in memory of Dr. Cheng Yu-Tung, who was the founder of the brand and father of the current chairman Dr. Henry Cheng Kar-Shun. Chow Tai Fook is one of the most popular jewellery brands in the Mandarin and Cantonese-speaking world, with over 2,000 outlets in mainland China alone.
“It is fitting that the owner of the most prestigious jeweller in Greater China should today break the record for the most valuable item ever sold in Asia as well as the most valuable diamond ever sold at auction – now appropriately named the CTF Pink,” said Sotheby’s President and CEO Tad Smith. David Bennett, Worldwide Chairman of Sotheby’s Jewellery Division, added: “I am delighted that this magnificently beautiful diamond has been rightfully crowned the most valuable gemstone ever sold at auction. The price has more than doubled the record for a Fancy Vivid Pink diamond that we set just last year in Geneva.”
WORDS
Katerina Perez With more than 12 years’ experience in the jewellery sector, Katerina Perez’s expert knowledge spans everything from retail sales and management to content creation, including brand building, jewellery writing and styling. Born and raised in St Petersburg, Katerina’s favourite hobby as a child was playing with the treasures in her grandmother's jewellery box, inspiring a lifelong love of jewellery from a very early age. She spent five years in St Petersburg University of Culture and Arts studying not journalism but business studies and languages, and her writing skills have developed as her passion for her favourite subject – jewellery – has grown. This is why her writing comes straight from the heart rather than the pages of a book. Daughter of an entrepreneur mother, Katerina exchanged her retail management job for jewellery writing in 2013 and hasn’t looked back since.
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