Record price tipped for largest white diamond

Named The Rock, a 228.31 carat pear-shaped stone roughly the size of a golf ball is expected to sell for up to $30 million.

Auction house Geneva jewellery department head Max Fawcett said large stones often sacrificed some of the shape in order to keep the weight.

“But this is a perfectly symmetrical pear-shape form and …one of the rarest gems ever to be sold at auction,” he said.

Diamond prices have been buoyed by sanctions on major producer Russia as well as the return of premium events as pandemic restrictions unwind.

Mined in South Africa, The Rock was worn by its former owner as a Cartier necklace.

Christie’s is also selling a 205.07 carat yellow, cushion-shaped stoned named The Red Cross Diamond, so named as an unspecified portion of the auction proceeds will go to the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross.

The gem, which has the Maltese cross faceted at its base, was first sold by Christie’s in 1918 at a London auction where residents sold precious household items to help the war effort. Its estimated selling price today is between $7 million and $10 million, Fawcett said.