１４・８３カラットの超希少ピンクダイヤ、競売に　予想価格２４億～３９億円

【ジュネーブＡＦＰ＝時事】非常に希少なピンクダイヤモンドが今月11日、競売大手サザビーズがスイス・ジュネーブで開催するオークションに出品される。同社によると落札予想価格は2300万～3800万ドル（約24億～39億円）。（写真はスイス・ジュネーブで開かれるオークションに出品予定の14．83カラットのピンクダイヤ「バラの精」）
　ロシアの有名なバレエの演目にちなんで「バラの精」と名付けられたこのダイヤは、同国北東部のサハ共和国原産で１４．８３カラット。競売に掛けられる「ファンシービビッド・パープルピンク」のダイヤとしては過去最大だ。
　サザビーズによると、１０カラットを超えるピンクダイヤは全体のわずか１％で、今回出品されるオーバルカットのダイヤには「不純物が一切ない」という。
　これまでオークションに出品されたダイヤ・原石・宝石類の落札価格の世界記録は、香港で２０１７年に７１２０万ドル（約７４億円）で落札された５９．６０カラットのオーバルカットのピンクダイヤで、落札された最も高額なダイヤ１０点のうち５点がピンクダイヤだった。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/11/09-12:21）

An extremely rare pink diamond will be auctioned in Geneva on November 11 by Sotheby's, which says it is worth between $23 and $38 million.
Named The Spirit of the Rose after a famous Russian ballet, the 14.83-carat diamond mined in Russia is the biggest ever to go under the hammer in its category -- fancy vivid purple-pink.
The occurrence of pink diamonds in nature is extremely rare in any size, Gary Schuler, head of Sotheby's jewellery division, said in a statement.
Only one per cent of all pink diamonds are larger than 10-carats.
Speaking to AFP, Benoit Repellin, head of fine jewellery auctions at Sotheby's Geneva, said the oval-shaped diamond was completely pure.
The rough diamond was unearthed by Russia's Alrosa -- one of the world's leading diamond producers -- in the Republic of Sakha in the northeast of the country in July 2017.
Repellin said it took a painstaking year for cutting masters to turn the diamond into its polished form.
Sotheby's said the world auction record for a diamond and any gemstone or jewel was the CTF Pink Star, a 59.60-carat oval pink diamond that sold for $71.2 million in Hong Kong in 2017.
According to Repellin, five out of the 10 most valuable diamonds ever sold at auction were pink.
The sale of this gem coincides with the closure of the world's largest pink diamond mine in Australia after it exhausted its reserves of the precious stones.
The Argyle mine, in the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia, churned out more than 90 percent of the world's pink diamonds.