On October 5, 2020, Setheby auctioned a flawless oval cut diamond, weighing 102.39 carat, d color. The diamond was auctioned without a reserve price, and the highest bidder won it at a bargain of just $15.7 million. The winner, a private collector who named the gem “Maiko Star” after his second daughter, must be thrilled with the deal.
It is important to note that there are only seven flawless diamonds with “D” color over 100 carat that has been ever auctioned. In addition, Sothbey was expecting the oval cut to fetch up to $30 million on the higher end.
This particular oval cut diamond was cut form a 271-carat rough and was discovered in Ontario, Canada in 2018, in the victor mine.
To get a clear perspective on the stone, we reached out to Petra Gems’ Owner, Shareef Khan for his perspective, and her is what he has to say.
“I think the previous owner of the stone made a mistake by not putting a reserve price on the auction. They must be regretting it, and the new owner must be thrilled with the deal. While I have published prices for 1-3 carat diamonds, this is a whole different ball game. The prices of diamond jumps significantly as the carat weight increase, especially for stones that are flawless and colorless — large flawless and colorless stones are extremely rare. This oval cut diamond should have Fetched the $30 million mark. Maybe it did not because of Covid-19, and maybe it was not the right time to auction it.”
The flawless oval cut will be headed to a private collection in Japan where it will join another 88.22- oval brilliant cut diamond which was purchased by the same collector in April 2019 and named as “Manami Star” in honor of his eldest daughter.