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The Pink Star, one of the World's Great Natural Treasures
Description
- coloured diamond, platinum
Condition
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Please note that colour, clarity and weight of gemstones are statements of opinion only and not statements of fact by Sotheby's. We do not guarantee, and are not responsible for any certificate from a gemological laboratory that may accompany the property. We do not guarantee that watches are in working order. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue, in particular to the Notice regarding the treatment and condition of gemstones and to the Notice regarding import of Burmese jadeite and rubies into the US.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
Catalogue Note
The diamond was first unveiled to the public in May 2003 as the ‘Steinmetz Pink’, and was modelled by Helena Christensen at a dedicated event thrown to coincide with the Monaco Grand Prix. Writing in the Financial Times on the 31 May 2003, Mike Duff described the diamond as “the rarest, finest, most precious stone the world has ever seen”. The stone was first sold in 2007 and was subsequently renamed “The Pink Star”. In the same article, Tom Moses, senior vice-president of the GIA, is quoted as saying: “it’s our experience that large polished pink diamonds – over ten carats – very rarely occur with an intense colour… The GIA Laboratory has been issuing grading reports for
50 years and this is the largest pink diamond with this depth of colour [vivid pink] that we have ever characterised”.
Of all the grades of pink which exist - light fancy pink, fancy pink, fancy intense pink, fancy deep pink and fancy vivid pink - ‘fancy vivid’ is the highest possible colour grade for a pink diamond.
The current record price ever paid at auction for a diamond, or any gemstone, is the GRAFF PINK, a superb 24.76 carat, Fancy Intense Pink step-cut diamond, which sold at Sotheby’s Geneva in November 2010 for $46.16 million. Weighing
in at 59.60 carats, this diamond is twice the size. The current record price per carat for a fancy vivid pink diamond ($2,155,332) was set by a 5.00 carat diamond, sold in Hong Kong in January 2009.
In the summer of 2003, this amazing gem was exhibited at 'The Splendor of Diamonds' exhibition at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. Displayed in the Winston Gallery alongside the 45.52 carat blue Hope Diamond, the
exhibition featured seven of the world’s rarest and most extraordinary diamonds. Also on view for the first time in the United States was the 203.04 carat De Beers Millennium Star, one of the largest diamonds in the world; the Heart of Eternity blue diamond; the Moussaieff Red, the largest known red diamond in the world; the Harry Winston Pumpkin Diamond; the Allnatt, one of the world’s largest yellow diamonds at 101.29 carats; and the Ocean Dream, the world’s largest naturally occurring bluegreen diamond.
Commenting at the opening of the exhibition, Dr. Jeffrey Post, curator of the Gems and Minerals Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History said, “each of the diamonds is the finest of its kind and together with the museum’s gem collection makes for an exhibit of truly historic proportions”. In the three months the exhibition ran, the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History attracted more than 1.6 million visitors.
From July through November 2005, The Pink Star again took centre stage, this time at the 'Diamonds' exhibition held at the Natural History Museum, in London. “This exhibition will bring together many of the most impressive single stones in the world, fascinating science, and insights into the diamond industry to tell the story of diamonds from deep
in the Earth to the red carpet,” said Michael Dixon, director of the Natural History Museum. For three months, the dazzling exhibition attracted approximately 70’000 visitors a day.
As stated in the summary of the GIA monograph, "There are no words more applicable to the Pink Star than those of French painter Eugene Delacroix ['what moves those of genius, what inspires their work is not new ideas, but their obsession with the idea that what has already been said is still not enough']. Valiant attempts to characterize its immense size, rich color, and remarkable clarity and purity all fall short. Much has been said about the Pink Star, but it is not enough. The Pink Star is a true masterpiece of nature, beyond characterization with human vocabulary. It is precisely this elusive beauty that will earn the Pink Star a page in the history books, where attempts to fully capture it will continue for years to come."