Auctions

Christie’s to Offer 100-Carat Diamond at Auction This Spring

AuctionsApr 20, 2021

Christie’s to Offer 100-Carat Diamond at Auction This Spring

The D-color, internally flawless diamond leads the Geneva Magnificent Jewels auction.

20210420_Christies.jpg
This 100-carat diamond dubbed “The Spectacle” leads Christie’s Geneva’s Magnificent Jewels sale next month. (Image courtesy of Christie’s Images Ltd. 2021)
Geneva—Next month, Christie’s will unveil an appropriately-named spectacular diamond, “The Spectacle.”

Alrosa dug up the stone in 2016. Weighing 207.29 carats in its rough form, it is the largest gem-quality stone to be recovered from the Zarnitsa pipe at the Udachny Mining and Processing Division. 

Zarnitsa was the first major diamond deposit found in Russia in 1954, although Alrosa did not begin mining there until 1998, focusing first on the more accessible Udachny pipe. 

Now, Christie’s will broker the sale of the enormous diamond’s polished result at the Geneva Magnificent Jewels sale.

The Spectacle weighs 100.94 carats and is D color and internally flawless. It’s expected to sell for between $12 million and $18 million. 

 Related stories will be right here … 

Alrosa cut the stone in Moscow at its “Diamonds of Alrosa” factory. According to Christie’s, The Spectacle is the largest stone to have ever been cut in Russia.

The stone’s nearly perfect clarity allowed Alrosa to cut it into an emerald shape, a cut which is incompatible with imperfections.

Though $18 million is Christie’s high-end estimate, the auctioneer is undoubtedly hoping it fetches a bit more at the May 12 sale at Geneva’s Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues.

In the last 10 years, the auction house has offered two other significant D-color diamonds at the Geneva Magnificent Jewels sale: the 101.73-carat flawless “The Winston Legacy” in 2013 for $26.7 million and the 163.41-carat flawless “Creation I” in 2017 for $33.7 million. 

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