Alrosa’s fifth auction for polished diamonds this year successfully sold a total weight of over 1,400 carats for almost $13 million. The auction sold 98% of the diamonds put up for sale.
The auction featured 49 exceptional polished diamonds weighing up to 28 carats with great potential as jewellery or investments, 284 diamonds weighing up to 17 carats – colourless, fancy yellow and rare pink cut in different shapes, and 17 batches of fancy yellow polished diamonds grouped by intensity of colour, cut in various shapes and weighing up to 0.99 carat each.
During the auction, in September and October, the polished diamonds were put on show in Dubai, the US and Israel. More than 50 companies from the US, Israel, the UAE, India, Belgium, Hong Kong, Japan and Russia took part. In addition, several lots were acquired by private individuals – clients of Alrosa Diamond Exclusive, a program focused on investment diamonds.
Pavel Vinikhin, Director of Diamonds of Alrosa cutting and polishing division, said, “We always thoroughly select the lots for auctions, primarily based on the clients’ need, so they always generate a high level of interest. Even at the start of the pandemic, in March 2020, when clients took an extremely selective approach to buying polished diamonds exclusively to meet their existing orders, almost 80% of all diamonds offered for auction were sold. But the current auction has set an absolute record of 98% of lots sold. From next year, we intend to increase the number of polished diamond auctions. This will be made easier, in part, by the scheduled relocation of Alrosa’s New York office at the end of the year to a new building which is more convenient for holding viewings.”