A flawless 59.6-carat pink diamond will be auctioned in the Swiss city of Geneva at a record asking price of $60m (£38m), Sotheby’s auction house says.
It says the oval-cut stone — the “Pink Star” — will become the most valuable diamond ever to be offered at auction.
Sotheby’s David Bennett says the diamond belongs in “the ranks of the earth’s greatest natural treasures”.
It is over twice the size of the 24.78-carat “Graff Pink” diamond that set the world auction record for $46.2m.
The gem, which was mined by De Beers in Africa in 1999, has received the highest possible colour and clarity rating from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA).
It weighed 132.5 carats in the rough, and was cut and polished over a period of two years by Steinmetz Diamonds, the New York-based auction house said in a statement on Wednesday, BBC informs.
