October 10, 2013: Sotheby’s Hong Kong has set a new world auction record for any white diamond when it sold a magnificent 118.28-carat oval D-colour Flawless diamond for HK$238.68 million (US$30.06 million).
Discovered in 2011 from the deep mines in Southern Africa, the 299 carat rough of the diamond was one of the largest and most beautiful diamond roughs found in recent years. Carefully and meticulously worked over a period of months, the resulting stone was the largest D colour Flawless diamond ever to appear at auction, as well as the largest oval shaped, D colour Flawless or Internally Flawless diamond ever graded by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). So far, only four other white diamonds of this quality over 100 carats had been sold at auctions, of which Sotheby’s had sold three.
