Pink diamond sells for more than $50M, setting world record

GENEVA — Christie’s has sold the “Pink Legacy” diamond at auction for more than $50 million including fees, saying it’s a new world record price per carat for a pink diamond.

Christie’s said that renowned jeweler Harry Winston was the buyer. The auction house had expected to fetch $30 million to $50 million for the nearly 19-carat, rectangular-cut stone, the largest fancy vivid pink diamond that it has ever put under the hammer.

It was the standout offering Tuesday at Christie’s fall jewelry auction in Geneva. The standing-room only ballroom broke into applause after the auctioneer struck down a hammer price of $44.5 million. That excludes the standard “buyer’s premium” and other fees.

The stone once belonged to the Oppenheimer diamond family, and Christie’s says it’s among the most chemically pure gems.