Sotheby’s recently announced that an ownership arrangement had been finally worked out for The Pink Star Diamond which has been languishing for over two years as part of the auction house’s inventory, after a previous buyer defaulted on the payment after making the winning bid at  auction in  2013.

Now, Sotheby’s has partnered with Diacore and Mellen Inc., to jointly “achieve the value” of the 59.50 carat stone. 

Sotheby’s had earlier put The Pink Star on auction in November 2013 in Geneva, when master cutter Isaac Wolf outbid other prospective buyers and acquired it for over US$ 83 million. However, by February 2014, Sotheby’s had made public the default and said it would hold the rare gem in its inventory.

At this point, the financials of the new tripartite ownership have not been announced. However, Sotheby’s had put the estimate of the diamond  at US$ 72 million when it was taken into its inventory.

In a pre-sale release of Sotheby’s in September 2013 David Bennett, Chairman of Sotheby’s Jewellery Division in Europe and the Middle East and Chairman of Sotheby’s Switzerland, had said: “I have had the privilege of examining some of the greatest gemstones in the world over the past 35 years, and I can say, without hesitation, that The Pink Star diamond is of immense importance. Its exceptional richness of colour – graded as ‘vivid pink’ by the Gemological Institute of America – combined with its extraordinary size, are characteristics that surpass those of any known pink diamond in State, Royal, or private collections. It is difficult to exaggerate the rarity of vivid pink diamonds weighing only five carats, so this 59.60 carat stone is simply off any scale, and passes, I believe, into the ranks of the earth’s greatest natural treasures.”

Pic Courtesy Sotheby’s