'Largest ever auctioned' purple-pink diamond fetches $26.6 million

An incredibly uncommon purple-pink diamondmined in Russia has sold at an auctionin Switzerland for $26.6 million.

The 14.8-carat jewel, named "The Spirit of the Rose," is the biggest of its sort to be unloaded, as 99 per centof all pink precious stones are under 10 carats.Thediamondwas named after a ballet performed by the Ballets Russes and its legendary dancer Vaslav Nijinsky in 1911.

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Its size, alongside its tone and faultless inward structure, assisted to fetchanexorbitant cost at Sotheby's in Geneva.

Sotheby's had estimated that the flawless oval gem, "The Spirit of the Rose," could fetch $23 million-$38 million at the Geneva sale.

Bidding opened at $16 million and climbed to the final hammer price of $21 million, plus commission. It was bought by a telephone bidder who chose to remain anonymous, Sotheby's said.

It was one of three stones in an assortment by Russian mining organization Alrosa - all named after renowned Russian ballet performances.

Thediamondwas shown in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taipei.

Coloured stones have been greatly valued as an asset class by the super-rich in recent years with top-quality pinkdiamonds especially prized.

The Argyle mine in Western Australian, which produced the world's largest supply of pinkdiamonds, halted production last week due to depletion.

"The lucky buyer could well profit from prices soaring for pinkdiamonds in the coming years thanks to increased rarity," Tobias Kormind, managing director of 77Diamonds, Europe's largest onlinediamondjeweller, said in a statement.

Naturally coloureddiamonds occur because they possess a particular lattice structure that refracts light to produce coloured, rather than white, stones.