Source:
https://scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3104292/flawless-102-carat-diamond-sells-more-hk120-million-sothebys
Hong Kong/ Society

Flawless 102-carat diamond sells for more than HK$120 million at Sotheby’s auction in Hong Kong

  • The diamond, about the size of a small egg, was only the eighth of its calibre to ever be sold
  • It was also the second-largest oval diamond of its kind offered at auction, Sotheby’s says
A 102.39-carat diamond was sold for nearly HK$122 million on Monday in Hong Kong. Photo: Handout

An exceedingly rare, and astoundingly large, diamond sold for more than HK$120 million at a sale by Sotheby’s Hong Kong on Monday night.

The flawless, D-colour, 102.39-carat gem – about the size of a small egg – went to an anonymous telephone bidder for nearly HK$122 million (US$15.7 million) in an auction held online, a spokeswoman said.

The auction was held by Sotheby’s Hong Kong Gallery in Admiralty on October 5, with online bidding having opened on September 15.

The diamond was offered in an no-reserve auction – one in which there is no minimum price, with the goods going to the highest bidder – the first of its kind for a diamond of this calibre.

Only seven D-colour, internally flawless or flawless white diamonds over 100 carats had ever been sold at auction before Monday’s sale. The stone in question was the second-largest oval diamond of its kind to ever be offered at auction, Sotheby’s said.

It was cut from a 271-carat rough, discovered in the Victor Mine in Ontario, Canada in 2018.

In 2013, a stone weighing 118.28 carats of a similar quality was sold by Sotheby’s for US$30.8 million.