According to Sotheby's, a rare pink diamond recently sold in Hong Kong for nearly $58 million, setting a record for the highest price ever paid per carat for any diamond or gemstone.
The 11.15-carat Williamson Pink Star sold for HK$453.2 million ($57.7 million) on Friday, making it the second-highest jewel auction price ever, according to Sotheby's.
An unidentified Boca Raton, Florida bid placed the winning bid, which was more than double the anticipated sale price of $21 million.
The diamond sold at auction was the second-largest pink diamond ever. The rarest and most sought-after precious jewels on the market are pink diamonds.
It did so when the CTF Pink Starstone, which established the world record price for a pink diamond in 2017, was sold in Hong Kong for $71.2 million.
Wenhao Yu, chairman of jewelry and watches at Sotheby's Asia, said that Friday's transaction "attests to not only the robust demand for high-grade diamonds in Asia but also a heightened understanding of the exceptional rarity of pink diamonds."
The Williamson Pink Star was given its name in honor of two excellent pink diamonds, the record-breaking CTF Pink Star and the 23.6-carat Williamson Stone, which was given to Queen Elizabeth II in 1947 as a wedding gift.
The "astonishing" transaction, according to Tobias Kormind, managing director of UK jewelry shop 77 Diamonds, demonstrated that premium diamonds could still command high prices in a precarious economic climate.
According to him, "hard assets like top-notch diamonds have a history of doing well even in times of turmoil."