A 5.03-carat fancy vivid green diamond is the latest big hulking hunk of carbon to set an auction record.
The “Aurora Green” garnered $16.8 million, or $3.3 million per carat, when it hit the auction block at Christie’s Hong Kong Tuesday, becoming the most expensive green diamond ever sold at auction. Hong Kong-based manufacturer and retailer Chow Tai Fook Jewellery purchased the stone.
The previous auction record for a green diamond was held by the “Ocean Dream,” a 5.5-carat fancy vivid blue-green diamond that sold for $8.6 million at Christie’s Geneva in May 2014.
The Aurora Green led Christie’s Magnificent Jewels sale, which totaled $60.7 million. When taking into account the jewels that were offered in the anniversary to celebrate the auction house’s 30th anniversary in Asia, jewelry sales Tuesday were $85 million.
Other jewels that topped the auction include a Burmese ruby and diamond bracelet by Faidee that sold under its pre-sale estimate when it garnered $3.5 million from a private buyer and a fancy vivid bluish-green, VS1 diamond weighing 2.08 carats that sold for $2.2 million.
Rounding out the top five lots were a cylindrical jadeite bangle for $2 million and a jadeite and diamond bracelet purchased by London’s Moussaieff Jewellers for $1.9 million.
The full list of results can be found on Christies.com.
