A rare pink diamond has sold for a world record price, British auction house Christie’s has said.
The “Pink Legacy”, weighing in at just under 19 carats, is the largest vivid pink diamond to have ever been put under the hammer.
Dubbed the “Leonardo da Vinci of diamonds”, the jewel was purchased by renowned jeweller brand Harry Winston for more than $50m (£39m) in Geneva.
The auction house said it is among one of the most chemically pure gems in the world.
It once belonged to the Oppenheimer diamond family and has been graded as “fancy vivid” – the highest level of colour intensity for a diamond.
The ballroom broke into applause as a price of approximately $2.6m per carat was agreed.
That excludes the standard “buyer’s premium” and other fees.
Christie’s chairman for Europe, Francois Curiel, said: “The ‘Pink Legacy’ … brought this extremely high price of $50m – so $2.6m per carat, which is a world record price for a pink diamond.
“The previous record was $2.1m, but for a much larger stone: over 50 carats.”
Christie’s sale kicks off two days of jewellery auctions in Geneva.
On 14 November, Sotheby’s will auction jewellery once owned by French queen Marie Antoinette that has not been seen in public for 200 years.
Agencies contributed to this report
