4 Magnificent Colored Diamonds at the Upcoming Christie’s NY Auction

April 14th, 2015 by Noam Flint

The auction season has officially started with last week’s Sotheby’s HK auction which amazed us with a 2.13ct blue diamond ring that sold for $680k per carat. However, Christie’s does not seem to stay far behind with a superb collection of natural colored diamonds of their own. These will be on auctioned to the highest bidder tomorrow, April 14th 2015 at their New York auction.

Here are my hot picks for the upcoming auction:

  1. 5.29 Carat Intense Purplish Pink Diamond Ring
    While officially the highlight of this auction (which is reserved to the priciest item) belongs to a colorless diamond (a “small” 80 carat diamond), my personal highlight is their next inline (price-wise) – this $5 Million Dollars radiant cut intense purplish pink diamond! This superb and rare diamond was just certified by the GIA. It got a great vs2 clarity which for diamonds of this caliber is nothing to be ambiguous about. On top of it all, it was determined to be a type IIa diamond. This type of diamonds are known to have exceptional transparency.

    Fancy Intense Purplish Pink Diamond Ring 5.29ct ChristiesFancy Intense Purplish Pink Diamond Ring 5.29ct
    Image by Christies
  2. 5.04 Carat Fancy Gray Blue Diamond Ring
    A diamond that you definitely don’t get to see every day – disregarding its phenomenal size.Diamonds are cut to maximize their values. The value is off course a combination of many things, for simplicity will state that the 4Cs of diamonds are the basic attributes that are taken into consideration and between themselves they live in equilibrium – they have roughly the same effect on pricing. 

    Prices of Fancy Colored Diamonds on the other hand are mainly priced according to their color!For that reason most natural colored diamonds you’ll find in the market would be cut into shapes such as cushion cuts, radiants etc., shapes that enable us to maximize the color. Round diamonds however make the colors of the diamonds appear whiter. This is why you’ll hardly ever see colored diamonds in rounds (gray diamonds are the exception).

    With that in mind, seeing a 5 carat round blue diamond is sublime! This diamond is gorgeous, has amazing brilliance and very good vs1 clarity. It is no wonder that with these attributes the ring it is mounted onto is not even in the photo…

    Fancy Gray Blue Diamond Ring 5.04ct ChristiesFancy Gray Blue Diamond Ring 5.04ct
    Image by Christies

    The diamond’s price estimation, even though “only” fancy (and not intense as the above pink) is $1,750,000 – $2,500,000 – an astounding $350k-$500k per carat.

  3. 6.57 carat Fancy Purplish Pink Diamond Ring
    This diamond in this sale is the perfect example of the importance of color in colored diamonds. It’s true that the above is vs2 and this diamond is si1 (one grade lower) but let’s put this aside and focus on the other attributes…

    Both diamonds have the exact same color description –purplish pink – which means a pink diamond with a slight purple tint.
    However, one diamond is intense while the other is fancy. And the effect on the price?

    The fancy is estimated at approximately $180k – $228k per carat and the intense is at $662k – $945k – That’s almost 4 times more per carat for a smaller diamond!!!

    Last but certainly not least (though “cheapest” so far)

  4. 1.52 carat Fancy Orangy Pink Flower Diamond Ring
    Unlike the other colored diamonds mentioned above, this beautiful diamond is something you may encounter in a regular store.
    The interesting part about this diamond is actually it’s price tag. It is a 1.5 carat pink diamond that is estimated at $60k-$80k – a good price.
    There is a reason for the price tag – the secondary orange hue and the si2 clarity both are causing a “price hit”. On top of that, the estimation is more than fair and if it goes for $60k or with some luck for less (luck for the buyer not the seller) – some may consider it as quite a catch.

    Fancy Orangy Pink Diamond Ring 1.52ct ChristiesFancy Orangy Pink Diamond Ring 1.52ct
    Image by Christies

To learn more of the sale, please visit Christie’s

UPDATE – Sales Results

I cannot say that I am too surprised with the result of the premier piece… The Intense Purplish Pink Diamond wound up selling 15% above its high estimate – $5,765,000. That’s almost $1.1 Million Dollars per carat!!! Back in 2009, a 5.29 carat pure intense pink diamond ring was sold for 2,048,508 USD… that’s quite a difference.

The second diamond, a 5 carat round fancy gray blue also did not disappoint selling at $2,285,000, close to its high estimation.

One last thing to remember before you spend your dollars though… auction season just started – up next – Sotheby’s NY!