Flawless Indian diamond gets record price at auction

GENEVA - Agence France-Presse

The ‘Archduke Joseph’ historical diamond was sold for $21.47 million. AFP photo

The flawless “Archduke Joseph” diamond, from India’s famous Golconda mines, broke several world records when it was sold at auction in Geneva late Tuesday for $21.47 million.

The price which the 76 carat jewel fetched at the Christie’s sale is a record for the auction of a clear, colorless diamond.

Highest auction price

It is also the highest auction price per carat for such a gem and the record for a Golconda diamond, the same mines which produced the Koh-i-Noor which adorns the British Queen’s crown.

“It’s a cushion-shaped diamond, weighing 76.02 carats, of D color” the purest, most colorless variety of diamond, a rarity and a specialty of the ancient Golconda mines in the Indian state of Andhra Paradesh, said Christie’s jewelry expert Jean-Marc Lunel.

The ‘Archduke Joseph,’ which was bought by an anonymous bidder, once belonged to the Habsburgs, former rulers of the Austrian empire.

It takes its name from the Archduke Joseph (1872-1962) who was for a short period the Hungarian head of state.

The diamond was sold in 1936 to a still-anonymous buyer and, hidden in a safe, escaped the attentions of the Nazis during the Second World War .

It reappeared on the international scene at a sale in London in 1961.

In the 1990s it was sold again, in Geneva, for $6.5 million.