Pink Star diamond fetches record $83m at auction

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: BBC

A diamond known as the Pink Star has sold for $83m (£52m) at auction in Geneva - a record price for a gemstone.

The diamond measures 2.69cm by 2.06cm (1.06 inches by 0.81 inches) and is set on a ring.

Three years ago, Sotheby's set a record when it sold the Graff Pink diamond for $46.2m, which was half the size of the Pink Star.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24934297

---

Just a day after the record for a painting at auction: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014646547

The rich are wallowing in their money.

[Scootaloo]

1. Congratulations on your gain of one of the most common forms of carbon on the planet, auctiongoer!

You must be delighted to learn that it has a faint trace of Aluminum within its crystal matrix, that alone is surely worth half the price you paid!

Thank goodness that money isn't touching the bellies of the poor - surely they wouldn't be able to appreciate the value of a vaguely pink piece of crystalline graphite in quite the same way you manage.

[idwiyo]

4. Them poor are just freeloaders anyway. No point spending money on them, it will just

encourage them to expect handouts!

Or something like it, I am sure.



Never mind one can make diamonds on industrial scale and much better quality than found in nature.

[idwiyo]

2. This is just sick.

[Earth_First]

3. To hell with the ultra wealthy!

This disgusts me to no end.

[Rozlee]

5. Hmpf. It's probably cursed.

[leftyladyfrommo]

6. That's kind of obscene.

Especially when you think of how that money probably could feed all the people in the Philippines that are in such need right now.

[Ash_F]

7. I wonder if it is a Blood Diamond

"According to the auctioneer, the Pink Star was mined by De Beers in Africa in 1999, but it did not say which country."

[dipsydoodle]

8. South Africa.

They may not have said because that was already known.

[Ishoutandscream2]

9. Shine on you crazy diamond.

[groundloop]

10. All that damned money for a pretty rock

That just doesn't make a bit of sense.... as others have said, that money could be put to far better use helping hurricane victims.

[8 track mind]

11. huh huh huh huh.....

you said "pink star" uh huh huh uhuh huh

[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

[yuiyoshida]

12. For a moment, I thought it

Referred to the Pink Panther Diamond..

[Hekate]

13. It really needs to be in a necklace set off by other gems. It's gorgeous.

I'd love to see the ultimate design. Just because I can't have it myself doesn't mean I can't appreciate that.

I know, I know: Tax the rich, shut down the blood diamond trade, protect the workers. I'm in favor of all of that. But that money was never going to go to the local Food Bank, you know.