CTF Pink Star (Pink Star Diamond)

A 132.5-carat rough and two years of cutting

The Pink Star began as a 132.5-carat piece of rough mined by De Beers in South Africa in 1999. Pink diamonds of strong color are rare in any size; a rough of that weight with the potential for a vivid pink polished stone was almost without precedent.

The rough went to Steinmetz Diamonds, which spent about two years deciding how to cut it. The cutters modeled the stone in epoxy more than 50 times while they tested different cuts, and the final polishing alone has been described as taking a cautious 20 months. Fewer than half the original carats survived: the finished stone weighs 59.60 carats.

The result is an oval mixed cut, with a step-cut crown over a brilliant-cut pavilion, measuring 26.93 by 20.64 by 13.68 millimeters. It was first called the Steinmetz Pink.

Unveiled in Monaco, shown to millions

The Steinmetz Pink was unveiled in Monaco on May 29, 2003, in a public ceremony tied to the Monaco Grand Prix, worn by the model Helena Christensen.

That summer it went on display for three months at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, in an exhibition that drew 1.6 million visitors. From July to November 2005 it was shown at the Natural History Museum in London.

In 2007 the stone took the name the Pink Star, the name it carried through its two trips to auction.

A record bid that never paid, then a record that did

On November 13, 2013, the Pink Star was offered at auction in Geneva with an estimate of $60 million. The New York diamond cutter Isaac Wolf won it with a bid of about $83 million including fees and announced he would call it the Pink Dream. He never paid. His default was disclosed in February 2014, and under the guarantee that had been given to the seller the stone went back into the inventory of the firm that had sold it, which then carried it at a value of $72 million.

In the summer of 2016, Diacore and Mellen Inc. took ownership stakes in the stone. It was exhibited in Hong Kong from March 31 to April 3, 2017, with an estimate in excess of US$60 million, or HK$468 million.

On April 4, 2017, at auction in Hong Kong, the Pink Star sold in about five minutes. With fees, the total was HK$553 million, or US$71.2 million, about $1.19 million per carat. The winner, bidding by phone, was the chairman of Chow Tai Fook, the Hong Kong jeweler, which edged out two other bidders.

The price was the highest ever paid at auction for a diamond or any jewel, beating the $57.5 million paid for the Oppenheimer Blue in Geneva in May 2016. It was more than double the previous auction record for a Fancy Vivid Pink diamond and was then a record for any lot sold at auction in Asia. Chow Tai Fook renamed the stone the CTF Pink Star; reports say the name honors Henry Cheng's late father, Cheng Yu-tung.

What makes it the top of the scale

GIA graded the stone Fancy Vivid Pink, natural color, and Internally Flawless, the highest color and clarity grades GIA gives a pink diamond. As of 2016, GIA's records showed it was the largest Flawless or Internally Flawless Fancy Vivid Pink diamond the lab had ever graded.

It is a Type IIa diamond. Fewer than 2% of gem diamonds belong to that group, which contains the chemically purest diamond crystals, often with extraordinary transparency.

Size sets it apart even among great pinks. It is more than twice the weight of the Graff Pink, a stone of about 24.8 carats that held the auction record for a pink diamond after selling for about $46.2 million in 2010.

Anyone checking a stone claimed to be the Pink Star would look for the GIA report, the 59.60-carat weight, the oval mixed cut and the measurements of 26.93 by 20.64 by 13.68 millimeters.

A ceiling for the whole field

Since April 2017 the CTF Pink Star has held the record for the highest price paid at public auction for any gemstone or jewel.

Its two sales tell the story of the trophy-gem market in miniature. The 2013 bid showed how far a single buyer would go; the default showed that a hammer price is not a sale until it is paid; and the 2017 result, lower than the 2013 bid but settled, became the number every great stone since has been measured against.

Timeline

1. 1999

   A 132.5-carat rough is mined by De Beers in South Africa.

2. May 29, 2003

   Unveiled in Monaco as the Steinmetz Pink, worn by Helena Christensen.

3. 2003

   Shown for three months at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History; the exhibition drew 1.6 million visitors.

4. Jul 2005

   Goes on display at the Natural History Museum in London through November.

5. 2007

   Renamed the Pink Star.

6. Nov 13, 2013

   Bid to about $83 million at auction in Geneva by Isaac Wolf, who names it the Pink Dream.

7. Feb 2014

   Wolf's default is disclosed; the stone returns to the selling firm's inventory.

8. 2016

   Diacore and Mellen Inc. take ownership stakes in the stone.

9. Mar 31, 2017

   Exhibited in Hong Kong through April 3 ahead of the sale.

10. Apr 4, 2017

    Sold at auction in Hong Kong for HK$553 million (US$71.2 million) to Chow Tai Fook in about five minutes; a world record for any jewel at auction.

11. Apr 2017

    Renamed the CTF Pink Star.

The world in 2017

• Jan 20, 2017

  Donald Trump is inaugurated as president of the United States.

• Jan 21, 2017

  The Women's March becomes the largest single-day protest in American history.

• Mar 26, 2017

  Carrie Lam is elected chief executive of Hong Kong.

• Mar 29, 2017

  The United Kingdom triggers Article 50, starting Brexit negotiations.

• Mar 30, 2017

  SpaceX completes the first reflight of an orbital rocket.

• May 7, 2017

  Emmanuel Macron wins the French presidential election.

• Nov 15, 2017

  Leonardo's Salvator Mundi sells for a record $450.3 million at auction.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, CTF Pink Star (Pink Star Diamond) is number 1 of 100 in the jewelry entries of the FLOAT 100. 44 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (1 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Its cutters modeled the stone in epoxy more than 50 times before committing to a cut.
• More than half of the 132.5-carat rough was cut away to make the 59.60-carat gem.
• In 2013 it was won with a bid of about $83 million, but the buyer never paid.
• Its three-month Smithsonian exhibition in 2003 drew 1.6 million visitors.
• The record-setting 2017 sale took about five minutes.
• It has carried three names: the Steinmetz Pink, the Pink Star and the CTF Pink Star, and briefly a fourth, the Pink Dream, chosen by the bidder who defaulted.