On 13th May 2014, Sotheby’s in London auctioned off the Graff Vivid Yellow, a diamond weighing 100.09cts cut by London jeweller Laurence Graff. The rare yellow diamond secured a winning bid of £9m from a private buyer thanks to its stunning, vibrant canary yellow colour and the diamond’s weight.
Burgeoning trend
The current trend for celebrities to wear coloured gemstones has driven up retail value recently and Vashi Dominguez, the founder of Vashi.com and diamond expert, commented, “The growing trend from celebrities Heidi Klum, Carrie Underwood and most recently George Clooney’s fiancée Amal Alamuddin’s yellow diamond engagement ring, has definitely sparked a massive interest and demand in coloured, polished stones, which is likely to see a growth in their retail and market value.”
Expensive taste
With the Pink Star Diamond selling for a cool £53 million in November 2013 and coloured stones attracting record prices in recent years, the Graff Yellow Diamond’s rarity attracted a great deal of attention from investors and high net worth individuals as well as diamond lovers from across the world.
Huge success
The overall sale has been deemed a huge success, attracting buyers from more than 30 countries and with total sales of £120 million, setting a new auction world record for a jewellery sale. In total, an impressive seven records were set, including world auction record for the price per carat for a round colourless diamond, a Fancy pink diamond and a Fancy light pink diamond. Aside from diamonds, natural pearls also performed strongly, with several lots beating their high estimates many times over.
Another stunning Graff diamond ring, set with a 103.46-carat brilliant-cut diamond, which features in Ian Balfour’s list of World’s Largest Cut Diamonds, sold for £3.5 million. A second colourless diamond, this time a 70.33-carat cushion brilliant-cut gem, went for £10.2 million, while a Fancy pink diamond ring (12.07 carats) achieved a record-breaking £524,228 per carat.
