A pair of pear-shaped diamond earrings nicknamed Apollo and Artemis, were sold at auction in Geneva by Sotheby's on Tuesday for a record $57.4 million. The two diamonds are both flawless and almost 16 carats each and are perfectly matched, except that Apollo is a fancy vivid blue and Artemis is an intense pink.

The diamonds were the headliners for Sotheby’s inaugural 2017 Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels auction at the Mandarin Oriental in Geneva.

They were bought by an anonymous buyer and will be kept as a pair, media sources said, but the two diamonds were valued separately and initially offered separately as it was thought there wouldn’t be a buyer for both the diamonds as a pair. The intense pink Artemis sold for $15.3 million, while the vivid blue Apollo went for $42.1 million. Sourced from the Cullinan mine in South Africa, Apollo’s deep vivid blue is much rarer and therefore more expensive than the intense pink.

Despite the record price, the diamonds sold a fair way below their pre-auction estimate of $70 million.

https://www.gemkonnect.com/news/diamond-earrings-fetch-record-574m-sotheby%E2%80%99s-geneva-auction