World’s most expensive tiara makes $12.76 million at Sotheby’s

1099ct fancy intense pink diamond cvuco 48

Sotheby’s sale of Magnificent Jewels and Nobel Jewels on May 17 in Geneva was headed by a 10.99 carat fancy intense pink diamond and the most important emerald and diamond tiara to have appeared at auction in over 30 years. The results are out now. The royal tiara, which was formerly in the collection of Princess Katharina Henckel von Donnersmarck circa 1900, went for a record 11.28 million Swiss francs ($12.76 million) to an anonymous buyer.
The tiara carried a presale estimate of between $5.2 million and $10.5 million. The previous record is for the tiara mounting the Shizuka Diamond (101.27 carats), which was sold by Christie’s Hong Kong for $6.2 million in May 2008. On the other hand, the rare emerald-cut fancy intense pink diamond weighing in at 10.99 carats fetched 9.6 million francs ($10.3 million), against its presale estimate of between $9.4 million and $17 million.
With 90 percent of the lots sold, the sale made 78.9 million Swiss francs ($89 million) in total. Back in 2008, a 24.78-carat fancy intense pink diamond went for $46 million to Laurence Graff, which is the record price for any gem at auction.