Sales at ‘True Colours’, ALROSA’s first ever auction of coloured diamonds reached US$ 9 million, with most of the lots being sold well above their starting price, the company said in a statement released today.

The auction, which concluded earlier this month shortly after the goods were displayed at the HK Jewellery & Gems Fair, featured 210 unique large coloured diamonds, all cut and polished by DIAMONDS ALROSA. More than 100 participants from around the world participated in the bidding which was conducted on ALROSA’s own electronic trading platform.

Pavel Vinikhin, Director, said, “The collection of large coloured stones which we brought to Hong Kong was the biggest in ALROSA’s history. We sold the lots for well above their starting prices and consider the auction results to be very positive,”

The “hero stones” – stars of the collection with a particularly rare combination of qualities, generated enormous interest from bidders, ALROSA said. One such “star”, which attracted a lot of attention from buyers around the world, was an oval cut Fancy Vivid Orangy Yellow diamond weighing 15.11 carats. During the course of the bidding the diamond doubled in price.

Stating that Chinese companies were particularly active in the bidding, ALROSA reported that nine companies bought 20 large stones between them. Chinese buyers showed special interest in coloured diamonds of one carat and under. These stones were sold in groups, intended for use by jewellery manufacturers.

ALROSA said it plans to hold an additional auction in the near future as the bidding was affected by Typhoon Mangkhut, which swept through the city. As a result, many clients were unable to get to Hong Kong and view the lots at the Fair or in the company’s office.

“We also plan to hold the ‘True Colours’ auction on a regular basis – once or twice a year. The results of the bidding clearly show that we have successfully taken another significant step towards our goal of becoming the world leader in the production of coloured diamonds,” Vinikhin added.

The collection comprised a selection of rough diamonds extracted from the deposits of ALROSA’s subsidiaries: Anabar Diamonds in Yakutia and Severalmaz in Arkhangelsk Region. ALROSA said it possesses substantial reserves of coloured diamonds and is also actively developing its cutting division, with a special focus on large and coloured diamonds.