76-carat flawless diamond to be auctioned

Posted October 01, 2012 | By Dean Millard • Staff Journalist

A 76-carat diamond billed as being perfect in colour and internally flawless is expected to fetch more than $15 million when it is auctioned by Christies in next month.

Believed to be the finest and largest perfect Golconda diamond ever to appear at auction, the Archduke Joseph Diamond will be put up for auction for the first time since 1993, when it was sold for $6.5 million, the equivalent of $10.5 million today.

Sourced from the Golconda mines in India, the diamond is named after one of its former Austrian owners, Archduke Joseph August Viktor Klemens Maria, and will be the highlight of the Christies sale in Geneva in November.

Side view of the 76-carat Archduke Joseph diamond

Prices for rare, high quality diamonds have soared in recent years, though the expected price will likely fall well short of the record books. The Wittelsbach Diamond was sold for $24.3 million in 2008 by Christies in London, while a 25-carat pink diamond sold for more than $46 million two years ago in Geneva.

India’s Golconda diamond fields have been mined since around 400BC and aside from a mine in Borneo were the sole source of diamonds until 1975 when they were discovered in Brazil.

The Archduke Joseph Diamond will be auctioned on November 13 following an exhibition tour in New York, Hong Kong and Geneva.