An enormous oval diamond named the "Pink Promise" was sold Tuesday for an eye-watering US$32.16 million 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 five-carat "Vivid Pink" which sold in Hong Kong for $10.78 million in 2009.
However, the diamond failed to sell at the higher end of the auction house's estimates of up to US$42 million.
"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 $37.7 million in the city last month, breaking the record for Chinese ceramics.
Earlier this year a giant diamond named the "Pink Star" broke the world record for a gemstone sold at auction when it fetched $71.2 million at Sotheby's.
Graphene oxide making any material suitable to create biosensors
TPU scientist Raul Rodrigez and his colleagues from Lithuania and Germany were the first in the world to suggest how with the help of graphene oxide, in fact ordinary graphene as in pencils, but oxidized to make the surface of any material suitable for immobilization of living cells.
Devices with such coatings will make it possible to detect and study individual living cells, including dan … read more
