Renamed the “CTF Pink,” the “Pink Star,” a 59.60-carat oval mixed-cut fancy vivid pink internally flawless diamond, sold for $71.2 million to Hong Kong jeweler Chow Tai Fook.

HONG KONG — On April 4, Sotheby’s set a new world auction record for any diamond or jewel when the Pink Star, a 59.60-carat oval mixed-cut fancy vivid pink internally flawless diamond, sold for $71.2 million. The Pink Star was acquired by renowned jeweler Chow Tai Fook, with the winning telephone bid placed by Dr Henry Cheng Kar-Shun, chairman of the company. The Pink Star has been renamed the CTF Pink in memory of the late Dr Cheng Yu-Tung, father of the current chairman and founder of Chow Tai Fook, and commemorates the esteemed brand’s 88th anniversary.

The CTF Pink joins a number of outstanding stones in the collection of Chow Tai Fook, including the Aurora Green, a 5.03-carat vivid green diamond acquired in 2016 for $16.8 million, an auction record for a green diamond, and the Cullinan Heritage, an exceptionally rare 507-carat rough diamond acquired for $35.3 million in 2010 that was cut and polished over three years to create “A Heritage in Bloom,” a unique masterpiece of diamond jewelry.

The oval mixed-cut pink diamond is the largest internally flawless fancy vivid pink diamond that the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has ever graded. It has received the highest color and clarity grades from the GIA for pink diamonds and has been found to be part of the rare subgroup comprising less than 2 percent of all gem diamonds – known as Type IIa: stones in this group are chemically the purest of all diamond crystals and often have extraordinary optical transparency. Mined by De Beers in Africa in 1999, the 132.5-carat rough diamond was meticulously cut and polished over a period of two years and transformed into this stunning gemstone.

Prices reported include the buyer’s premium.