A highly valuable pink diamond known as “The Eternal Pink” is expected to achieve a record-breaking price of over $35 million at an upcoming Sotheby’s auction. Weighing 10.57 carats, the diamond is considered the most valuable “purplish pink” diamond ever offered at auction, with an estimated price per carat of over $3,300,000, the highest ever recorded for a diamond or gemstone.

The diamond will be exhibited in various cities worldwide before the auction on June 8, and Sotheby’s currently holds the record for the highest price per carat ever achieved for a pink diamond. Pink diamonds are extremely rare, with less than 3 percent of diamonds submitted to the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) classified as colored diamonds, making them one of the rarest naturally occurring colored stones.

HOW ARE PINK DIAMONDS CREATED ?

The process of how pink diamonds are formed remains a mystery, unlike yellow and blue diamonds, which are colored by nitrogen and boron, respectively. Some experts speculate that the pink hue is developed “during the stone’s formation process deep within the earth,” as stated by the auction house.

“The Eternal Pink” has the highest possible color grade for a colored diamond and belongs to the rare Type Ila subgroup, which constitutes less than 2 percent of all gem diamonds and is characterized by its high chemical purity.

According to Sotheby’s, the diamond was extracted from the Damtshaa mine in Botswana by De Beers, an international diamond company based in London.

The Damtshaa mine was closed in 2021 due to weakened demand caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Botswana President Mogweetski Masisi has reportedly threatened to terminate the nation’s 50-year partnership with De Beers if the company does not provide Botswana with a larger share of its diamond profits, as per recent developments.