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White diamond fetches over $20 million at auction

Roshni Majumdar
May 12, 2022

The egg-sized white diamond was sold for $21.75 million at Christie's in Geneva. It was billed as the largest of its kind to go under the hammer.

https://p.dw.com/p/4B9xV
A Christie's employee holds "The Rock" a white diamond of 228.31 carats, the largest white diamond ever seen throughout auction market history, during a preview at Christie's, in Geneva, Switzerland, Friday, May 6, 2022.
'The Rock' is the largest stone of its kind to have gone up for auction Image: Salvatore Di Nolfi/KEYSTONE/picture alliance

A white diamond nearly the size of an egg sold for 21.6 million Swiss francs ($21.75 million; € 20.63 million), including fees, at a Christie's auction on Wednesday.

The auction house said the diamond, dubbed "The Rock," was one of a kind and the price it fetched was on the lower end of the expended auction range.

Christie's pre-sale estimate said the pear-shaped diamond could go for between $19.1 million and $30.1 million.

Diamonds can be of many colors, ranging from D, which is colorless, to Z, which is visibly yellow.

"The Rock" was G-color, which is among the top grades in the range of diamonds that are nearly colorless. Diamonds that are absolutely colorless cost even more.

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'Unchartered territory'

The 228-carat diamond, with its platinum pendant mounting, has a gross weight of 61.3 grams (2.2 ounces).

It has dimensions of 5.4 centimeters by 3.1 centimeters (2.1 inches by 1.2 inches).

Max Fawcett, head of jewelry at Christie's in Geneva, hailed a successful sale in "uncharted territory" for a stone of its kind.

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'Red Cross' diamond fetches over $14 million

Christie's also sold a 205-carat yellow diamond for $14.28 million on Wednesday.

The diamond, cut from a rough stone unearthed in South Africa's Griqualand mines in the early 20th century, sold for double the pre-sale estimate.

An employee at Christie's holds up the "Red Cross" and "The Rock"
An employee at Christie's holds up the 'Red Cross' and 'The Rock'Image: Salvatore Di Nolfi/KEYSTONE/picture alliance

The diamond first went up for auction in 1918, with Fawcett saying there was a "huge amount of interest" for it this time around.

Fawcett also said that an unspecified seven-figure sum from the proceeds of the sale would be donated to the Geneva-based International Red Cross.

AFP material contributed to this report

Roshni Majumdar Roshni is a writer at DW's online breaking news desk and covers stories from around the world.@RoshniMaj