The world record for any white diamond sold at auction has been set at Sotheby's, after a 188.28 carat example sold at the Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite sale on October 7 in Hong Kong.
 The 118 carat white diamond |
The diamond, a spectacular oval brilliant-cut stone, sold for an outstanding $30.6m, following bidding that lasted a full six minutes.
The stone is one of several important diamonds set to feature at Sotheby's this autumn, with the world's largest flawless vivid pink diamond - the Pink Star - valued at $60m in the November 13 auction in Geneva.
The magnificent oval diamond is a D colour flawless example, which was discovered in South Africa in 2011. The largest of its type and condition to have appeared at auction, the rough stone originally weighed 299 carats before being painstakingly cut over many months.
Only four diamonds over 100 carats have ever featured at auction, with the Winston Legacy diamond (101.73 carats) selling for a record $26.7m at Christie's Geneva earlier this year. The present sale represents a 12.7% increase on this record.
The sale achieved the highest ever total for a sale of jewellery in Asia, with a double-strand jadeite necklace selling at $5.5m - a 44.7% increase on its $3.8m high estimate.
Sotheby's is celebrating its 40th anniversary in Asia with a series of sales in Hong Kong. On October 5, Zeng Fanzhi's The Last Supper set a new world record for Asian contemporary art at $23m.
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