HONG KONG: A rare pink diamond has sold in Hong Kong for nearly $58 million, setting a record for price per carat paid at auction for any diamond or gemstone, according to Sotheby’s. The 11.15-carat Williamson Pink Star on Friday fetched HK$453.2 million ($57.7 million), the second-highest price paid at auction for any jewel, Sotheby’s added.

The winning bid, by an undisclosed buyer from Boca Raton, Florida, was more than twice the estimated $21 million sale price.

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The stone was the second-largest pink diamond to be sold at auction. Pink diamonds are the rarest of the precious gems and the most in-demand on the global market. The world record for a pink diamond was set in 2017, when a stone known as the CTF Pink Star was sold in Hong Kong for $71.2 million.

Friday’s sale “not only attests to the resilient demand for top quality diamonds in Asia, but a heightened awareness of the great scarcity of pink diamonds”, said Wenhao Yu, chairman of jewellery and watches at Sotheby’s Asia.