Guess who bought €11m diamond?

AN 84.37-CARAT white diamond touted by Sotheby’s for its size and beauty has sold at auction to Guess clothing company founder Georges Marciano for a little less than $16.2 million (€11m).

Mr Marciano has renamed it the “Chloe Diamond” after his daughter, Sotheby’s said.

Lisa Hubbard, chairwoman of jewellery at Sotheby’s North and South America said: “It was purchased by Georges Marciano, founder of Guess Jeans who lives in Beverly Hills.”

The jewel had been valued by Sotheby’s at between $13.3m and $17.8m.

Mr Marciano’s winning bid came to $16,189,769 — just short of the auction record for a stone or piece of jewellery, a record held by Sotheby’s Geneva branch for a 100.1-carat diamond that fetched $16.5m in 1995.

“We had interest from all over the world,” said David Bennett, the auction house’s chairman of jewellery for Europe and the Middle East.

“This sale said a lot about the market internationally, especially the diamond market. It says great things about jewels.”

The diamond received the highest possible grading, Sotheby’s said. It is D-colour, or finest white, has flawless clarity, and its cut, polish and symmetry have all been graded excellent, it said.

Ron Cohen, owner of the Los Angeles-based Clean Diamonds, was the seller of the gem. He said he purchased it from Angola’s national diamond company two years ago, and knew immediately it was something special.

“The size and especially the quality of the rough material was extraordinary,” he said. “I only hope I will one day come across another stone like that one.”