The much sought-after Fancy Vivid Pink Legacy diamond was sold at the Christie’s action in Geneva on November 13, 2018. The stone clinched a stunning $50.3 million bid and it was bought by Harry Winston. The auction set a new per-carat record for the 18.96 ct diamond, and surpassed the pre-auction speculations of $30 million – $50 million.
Since the high-profile auction, the owner renamed it the Winston Pink Legacy. The auction was later described by the Christie’s as “five minutes of spirited bidding”. According to Christie’s chairman, Francois Curiel, the auction was full of private bidders and collectors who wanted to witness the bidding. The main duel happened to be between Harry Winston and Vickie Sek, the head of Christie’s jewelry department in Asia. Apart from these people, there were several under-bidders, who were all operating through their phones connected to their London and Geneva based colleagues.
The iconic Pink Legacy diamond cost a whopping $2.7 million per carat. This easily surpassed the previous record-holder the 14.93 ct Fancy Vivid Pink Promise diamond, which fetched $2.1 million a carat in an auction held in Hong Kong last year. The Promise diamond cost a total of $71 million. However, remember that this one was 59.5 carat heavy. It set the world record back in 2017 when a world auction was arranged at Sotheby’s. At that time, it became the priciest pink diamond and also the costliest gemstone ever.
Christie’s did not disclose the actual owner of the splendid Pink Legacy diamond, but only revealed that the diamond came from the Oppenheimer family. This was the same family, which owned one of the major diamond manufacture and mining corporations in the world. Before the diamond was put up for auction, it was sold to them through a private diamond collector.
This purchase came third in a series of high profile purchases made by Harry Winston after the company was owned by the Swatch Group back in 2013. “We are proud to continue in the Winston tradition of acquiring the finest gems in the world,” remarked the current President and CEO of Harry Winston, Nayla Hayek. She also said that the exclusive Winston Pink Legacy had joined their exquisite Legacy collection, which had begun with the acquisition of the 101 ct D color Flawless Winston Legacy diamond at Christie’s in 2013. After that, the Winston group also purchased a 13 ct Fancy Vivid Blue diamond in 2014 for $24.2 million.