A sample of pink diamonds, described as “the most important pink diamond” ever to hit the market, sold for a record $34.8 million in just two minutes at an auction held by Sotheby’s New York last week.
Known as “Eternal Pink”, this specimen is a 10.57-carat diamond said to be of impeccable clarity. The diamond, mined at the Damtshaa mine in Botswana in 2019, has since been cut into a pillow shape and placed in a ring. But beyond the high quality of this diamond, the impressive gum-pink color undoubtedly stands out.
The reason for this vibrant color is unknown, further increasing the diamond’s appeal to buyers. Diamonds are typically colored by the presence of trace elements such as boron, which gives diamonds a blue hue. However, oddly enough, pink diamonds do not contain any trace elements.
Sotheby’s explains on its website about Eternal Pink: “The best explanation available today is that color is caused by stress experienced at the atomic level. Diamonds form deep in the earth’s mantle layer, where intense high pressures and temperatures compress carbon atoms into a strong crystalline structure. Powerful volcanic eruptions displace these diamonds and cause them to erupt into the earth’s crust, where they can remain for millions of years, then erosion drives them into waterways or are uncovered by miners.”
The exceptional rarity of finding a diamond larger than 10 carats free from other minerals and imperfections makes Eternal Pink an even more desirable diamond.
Eternal Pink is considered one of the most important and attractive pink diamonds in the world, but it is not the biggest example either. The largest rough pink diamond discovered in Angola’s Lunda Norte region in 2022, the ‘Lulo Rose’ culminates as an incredible 170-carat diamond.
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