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<p>HONG KONG (AP) &#8212; A stunning 59.6 carat diamond known as the &#8220;Pink Star&#8221; sold for $71.2 million at a Sotheby&#8217;s auction Tuesday in Hong Kong, setting a new world record for any diamond or jewel, according to the auction house.</p><p>The oval mixed-cut diamond smashed the $60 million pre-sale estimate set by Sotheby&#8217;s when it went on the block.</p><p>The sale comes three years after the gem was sold at an even higher price at another Sotheby&#8217;s auction in Geneva. That deal later fell apart after the buyer defaulted.</p><p>The gem is the largest flawless fancy vivid pink diamond ever graded by the Gemological Institute of America.</p><p>Three telephone bidders competed for the stone during five tense minutes of bidding. The crowd in the packed auction room applauded when it was sold for a hammer price of $63 million , not including the buyer&#8217;s premium.</p><p>Sotheby&#8217;s Asia Chairwoman Patti Wong said the winning bidder was Hong Kong jeweler Chow Tai Fook.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re very happy,&#8221; Wong said. &#8220;I know there was a lot of talk about the economy in China not being as positive as it was a few years ago,&#8221; but the results from its jewelry auction Tuesday, which included nearly 200 other lots, were very strong, she said.</p><p>Wong said the company is not worried about another default because the bidders were vetted and have longstanding relationships with Sotheby&#8217;s.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re very, very confident that all three bidders had the financial capability, and of course the buyer definitely had the financial capability,&#8221; she said.</p><p>Until now, the most expensive diamond ever sold at auction was the &#8220;Oppenheimer Blue,&#8221; which fetched 56.8 million Swiss francs (then $57.6 million) last May. The previous world auction record for a pink diamond was $46.2 million for the 24.78 carat &#8220;Graff Pink&#8221; in 2010.</p><p>Sotheby&#8217;s decided the time was right to bring the diamond back to the market because of rising demand from wealthy Asian buyers.</p><p>&#8220;The Asian element in the jewelry market is extremely important and from what I&#8217;ve been hearing from members of the trade I&#8217;ve been talking to, in the last six months they have become more and more important,&#8221; said David Bennett, chairman of the auction house&#8217;s jewelry division.</p><p>The &#8220;Pink Star&#8221; was mined in Africa by De Beers in 1999 as a raw 132.5 carat gem and cut over a two-year period. In November 2013 it was auctioned for a record $83 million to New York diamond cutter Isaac Wolf, who failed to pay.</p><p>The auction house was then forced to buy the diamond itself because had guaranteed a $60 million sale price. Last year it sold an unspecified stake in the diamond, valued at $72 million on its balance sheet, to two companies, diamond specialist Diacore and New York jeweler Mellen Inc.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">In this Wednesday, March 29, 2017, file photo, the &quot;Pink Star&quot; diamond, the most valuable cut diamond ever offered at auction, is displayed by a model at a Sotheby's auction room in Hong Kong. The stunning 59.6 carat diamond has sold for HK$553 million or US$71.2 million at a Sotheby's auction in Hong Kong, setting a record for any diamond or jewel. It's Also the highest price for any work ever sold at auction in Asia. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu, File)</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_115911792-2502ce94791e40c3914d7277e50af0e9.jpg</photo0><caption0>In this Wednesday, March 29, 2017, file photo, the &quot;Pink Star&quot; diamond, the most valuable cut diamond ever offered at auction, is displayed by a model at a Sotheby's auction room in Hong Kong. The stunning 59.6 carat diamond has sold for HK$553 million or US$71.2 million at a Sotheby's auction in Hong Kong, setting a record for any diamond or jewel. It's Also the highest price for any work ever sold at auction in Asia. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu, File)</caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By KELVIN CHAN</p><p>AP Business Writer</p></bylineMeta></div>

‘Pink Star’ 59.6-carat diamond fetches record $71.2M in Hong Kong auction