Hong Kong — An enormous oval diamond named the Pink Promise was sold on Tuesday for an eye-watering $32.16m at auction in Hong Kong. The 14.93-carat pink gemstone went to an unidentified phone bidder as applause filled the room. Auctioneers Christie’s said it was the second highest price per carat paid for a pink diamond, next to the 5-carat Vivid Pink which sold in Hong Kong for $10.78m in 2009. However, the diamond failed to sell at the higher end of the auction house’s estimates of up to $42m. "It’s a very, very strong price," François Curiel, Christie’s Europe and Asia chairman, told AFP after the sale. "It really shows that Hong Kong is a very important centre for jewellery today." An ongoing anti-corruption drive in mainland China has done little to dent feverish bidding in Hong Kong’s auction houses. A 1,000-year-old bowl from China’s Song Dynasty was sold for $37.7m in the city last month, breaking the record for Chinese ceramics. Earlier this year a giant diamond named the ...
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