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Christie's
Auction yields 2.6 Million for a
very rare purplish red diamond weighing 2.26 carats.
A model holds a ring with a very
rare purplish red diamond of 2.26 carats at a Christie's auction press
preview in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2007.
AP Photo: The
octagonal shaped purplish red diamond is also the largest ever red
diamond offered at an auction. The ring is expected to fetch an
estimated 1,500,000 to 1,875,000 Swiss Francs (US$1.2 million to 1.5
million) in the upcoming auction Nov. 15, 2007
GENEVA (Reuters) - A rare purplish-red diamond ring
has sold for 2.97 million Swiss francs ($2.6 million), setting a world
record for a red diamond, Christie's said.
British jeweler Laurence Graff
bought the ring whose octagonal stone weighs 2.26 carats and is the
largest red diamond to appear at auction, it said.
The previous record for a red
diamond, considered the rarest of colored diamonds, was a 1.92 carat gem
that sold for more than $1.6 million in 2001, according to the auction
house which held a semi-annual jewelry sale in Geneva on Thursday night.
An emerald and diamond necklace,
which belonged to German Princess Katharina Henckel von Donnersmarck at
the end of the 19th century, sold for just over 2 million Swiss francs
($1.78 million) to an anonymous bidder.
In all, Christie's jewelry sale
netted 53.9 million Swiss francs ($48 million), with 80 percent of the
nearly 400 lots on offer finding new owners.
"After nearly a billion dollars of
art changed hands at Christie's New York in the last two weeks, the jewelry sale at Christie's
Geneva demonstrated the same trend with spectacular prices achieved for
exceptional jewels and gemstones," said Eric Valdieu, director of
Christie's jewelry department in Geneva.
(Reporting by Stephanie
Nebehay; editing by Ralph Boulton)
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