A remarkable pink diamond, “The Eden Rose,” weighing 10.20 carats, sold for an impressive $13.3 million at Christie’s jewelry auction on Tuesday. The sale price of $1.3 million per carat exceeded the pre-sale estimate of $9 million to $12 million.
Christie’s revealed that “The Eden Rose,” named after the symbol of unconditional love, is an internally flawless, round brilliant-cut stone. This cut is notably rare for a natural color diamond.
The diamond is set in an 18-karat white gold ring, featuring 18-karat rose gold prongs. It is surrounded by a halo of pear brilliant-cut and marquise-cut diamonds, ranging from 0.73 to 3.11 carats.
The “Magnificent Jewels” sale marked the first time “The Eden Rose” was offered at auction. According to Christie’s, it is the most significant internally flawless, round brilliant, fancy intense pink diamond to come to auction in over a decade.
In total, the auction brought in $44.4 million, with 90 percent of the 144 lots finding buyers. “The Eden Rose” was the top lot of the auction.
Natural color diamonds dominated the top five lots. Rahul Kadakia, Christie’s international head of jewelry, noted that buyers were willing to pay high prices for rare colored gemstones and natural pearls.
The second highest-grossing lot was a platinum diamond pendant necklace with an 84.05-carat fancy intense yellow cushion modified brilliant-cut diamond. It sold for $2.2 million, slightly above its highest pre-sale estimate of $2 million.
A platinum ring featuring a 2-carat fancy vivid blue heart-shaped diamond, surrounded by halos of yellow and white diamonds, fetched $2.1 million. This sale was within the estimated range of $1.6 million to $2.6 million.
The fourth highest-grossing lot was a set of three yellow diamonds: one fancy intense yellow weighing 40.56 carats, one fancy yellow weighing 40.38 carats, and one fancy yellow weighing 26.63 carats. The set sold for $1.7 million, at the low end of the expected range of $1.6 million to $2.6 million.
Rounding out the top five was a pair of pendant earrings featuring I-color, oval brilliant-cut diamonds weighing 23.20 and 23.05 carats, set in platinum and 18-karat white gold. The earrings sold for $1.4 million, meeting the high end of the pre-sale estimate of $1 million to $1.5 million.
