Pink Diamond Fetches $83M

An enormous diamond known as "The Pink Star" sold for more than $83 million at auction today, far surpassing its expected price of $60 million. Sotheby's says the sale of the vivid and flawless 59.6-carat pink diamond is the highest price ever paid for a gemstone at auction. The exact sale price of "The Pink Star" was 76.325 million Swiss francs, or $83.425 million. It had been introduced prior to the bidding as "one of the most remarkable gems ever to appear at auction."

The diamond is graded as a Type IIa, a rarity for a pink diamond, and it took Steinmetz Diamonds two years to cut it to form from a 132.5-carat rough diamond. It was first shown publicly in May 2003 as the "Steinmetz Pink," then sold privately for the first time in 2007 when it was renamed "The Pink Star." The sale comes a day after one at Christie's saw a Francis Bacon painting go for a record $143 million. (More diamond stories.)