Harry Winston bid US17.4 million for the famous stone, $1.44 million per carat, making it the most expensive round fancy intense pink diamond ever sold at auction. The sale surprised many, nearly doubling its $8 million to $10 million pre-sale estimate.
Apparently named to commemorate the United States launching its first satellite on a mission to Mars, the Pink Martian has attained iconic status because of its size, intense colour and its former link to legendary jeweller Harry Winston.
“[The name] comes from Harry Winston, who was so impressed that the Americans had landed on Mars in 1976 that he looked at his inventory and he found a rough diamond which probably could come out as pink,” Rahul Kadakia, Christie’s head of jewellery in the US, and Switzerland told the BBC.
“So he cut it, and he cut it in such a way that the intensity of the thing was larger than any of the other things that he had ever cut before,” Kadakia added.
The stone was bought by an anonymous phone buyer, which has since been revealed to be the New York jewellery house that Winston foundered. Harry Winston originally sold the diamond to a private collector in 1976.
The Hong Kong auction was a resounding success overall, posting sales of $80.2 million, with 79 per cent sold by lot and 82 per cent sold by value.
Other notable sales included an Etcetera 6.04 carat “pigeon’s blood red” Burmese ruby and diamond ring going for $3.4 million, a pair of brilliant-cut unmounted diamonds for $4.8 million, and a three-diamond ring from JAR for $2.9 million.
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