“The Rock”, the biggest white diamond ever to be sold at auction, will go under the hammer in Geneva on Wednesday and could fetch up to $30 million — or more.The 228.31-carat stone, larger than a golf ball, is “a truly exceptional pear-shaped diamond”, said Max Fawcett, head of the jewels department at Christie’s auction house in Geneva.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .It is “the largest white diamond ever to be offered at auction”, he told AFP at a preview.
The Magnificent Jewels auction at the luxury Hotel des Bergues in Geneva begins at 1400 GMT.
The Rock, currently in the hands of an unnamed owner from North America, is lot 26 in the sale and could break records at the sale.
“It’s perfectly symmetrical and is estimated at $20 to $30 million — and I expect there to be fireworks” at the auction, Fawcett said.
The equivalent in euros is 19 to 28 million.
The expert said that there were only a handful of diamonds of similar size and quality to The Rock. The Christie’s record for a similar white diamond is $33.7 million, fetched in Geneva in 2017 for a 163.41-carat gem.
The large diamond was extracted from a mine in South Africa in the early 2000s and has been shown in Dubai, Taipei and New York ahead of the sale in Geneva.
Red Cross gem
The Rock is up for grabs alongside a historic intense yellow diamond associated for more than a century with the Red Cross, which will receive some of the profits from its sale.
The Red Cross Diamond is a cushion-shaped, 205.07-carat canary yellow jewel, which has a price estimate of seven to 10 million Swiss francs ($7.09 to $10.13 million).
“I expect that it will achieve much more on the day of sale,” said Fawcett.
A large chunk of the proceeds will be donated to the International Committee of the Red Cross, which is headquartered in Geneva.
The original rough stone was found in 1901 in a De Beers company mine in South Africa and is said to have weighed around 375 carats.
As well as ranking among the largest diamonds in the world, a striking feature is its pavilion, which naturally bears the shape of a Maltese cross.
