According to Sotheby’s, the world’s premier destination for art and luxury, such is the perfection and purity of the Williamson Pink Star that, with an estimate of $21 million, it has the potential to set a new per carat price record for a Fancy Vivid pink diamond.

A natural wonder of nature, the extraordinary cushion-shaped stone has only two equals in clarity and depth of color, both of which are referenced in its name: first, the record-setting CTF Pink Star; and second, the celebrated ‘Williamson' stone – a brilliant of 23.60-carats given as a wedding present to Queen Elizabeth II in 1947 by the geologist and royalist, Dr. John Thorburn Williamson, who owned the mine in Tanzania where it was discovered.

“The discovery of a gem-quality pink diamond of any size is an extremely rare occurrence. Driven by a limited supply and rising demand, prices for top-quality large pink diamonds over 5 carats have increased exponentially over the past decade, serendipitously setting the scene for the appearance now of this one-of-a-kind stone,” Wenhao Yu, Chairman of Jewellery and Watches at Sotheby’s Asia, said.

Pink diamonds: Magic and mystery

Curiously, what gives pink diamonds their coveted color remains a mystery and it is one of the rarest colors to occur naturally in diamonds: of all the diamonds submitted to GIA, less than 3 percent are classified as colored diamonds, and of those, less than 5 percent are considered predominantly pink. A Fancy Vivid Pink diamond, weighing over 10 carats is, therefore, of the utmost rarity.