NEW YORK: A 34.64-carat pink diamond once owned by the world’s richest man — the last Nizam of Hyderabad, has sold at auction in New York for nearly $ 40 million, setting a new record for Christie’s auction house.
Dubbed the “Princie Diamond,” the gem is “one of the largest and finest pink diamonds in the world,” with a “fabulous provenance,” Christie’s jewelry chief Francois Curiel said ahead of the sale.
An anonymous telephone bidder paid $ 39,323,750, or more than $ 1 million per carat, for the stone from ancient diamond mines in southern India, the auction house said in a statement Tuesday.
The pink gem was once owned by the royal family of Hyderabad, rulers of one of the wealthiest provinces of the Mughal Empire, Christie’s said in a statement. Since 1960, it was owned by the London branch of Van Cleef & Arpels. The exclusive jewelry firm originally paid 46,000 pounds for it, equivalent to $ 1.3 million today, Christie’s said, indicating a hefty profit after Tuesday’s sale. All told, bidders paid more than $ 80 million for the jewels at the New York auction, including just under $ 4.5 million for a 30.32 carat rectangular cut D color diamond and $ 3.3 million for a Harry Winston diamond ring. Previously, the most paid at Christie’s for a diamond was $ 24.3 million, for the 31-carat Wittelsbach diamond in 2008.