Can lab-created diamonds change the industry?
Iannelli Diamond’s Joseph Shovak discusses the 2,000 small businesses which have been in operation in New York’s Diamond District for the past 100 years, the recent diamond heist and lab-created diamonds now on sale.
Sold!
A flawless 102-carat diamond has been purchased for $15.7 million in a Sotheby’s auction. Notably sold without a reserve price, one expert described the transaction as a "bargain" buy.
The rare sparkler, a 102.39-carat D Color Flawless Oval Diamond, was bought by an anonymous telephone bidder through an online auction hosted by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on Monday, BBC reports.
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The luxury auction house said the sale was historic as the “first world-class diamond ever to be auctioned without reserve,” or without a minimum sum set by the seller.
The 102-carat jewel was expected to fetch between $10 million to $30 million; only seven other D Color white diamonds over 100 carats have ever sold at auction.
The 102.39-carat D Color Flawless Oval Diamond. (Sotheby's)
Tobias Kormind, co-founder of online jeweler 77 Diamonds, argued that the new owner “bagged a bargain” for the gem, as the decision to eschew a reserve price came “back to bite” the seller, Kormind told the BBC.
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Sotheby’s says this diamond was cut from a 271-carat rough and discovered in Ontario, Canada, in 2018, in the Victor Mine. The rough was then cut and polished over a year by diamond specialists Diacore to bring out its brilliance.
Now, the diamond is headed to a private collector in Japan, Sotheby’s wrote on Instagram.
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The auction house said that the buyer has named the precious stone the “Maiko Star” after his second daughter. In April 2019, the same collector purchased an 88.22-carat oval, brilliant diamond for $13.8 million and called it the “Manami Star,” in honor of his eldest daughter.
Fox News’ Jeanette Settembre contributed to this report.
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