"The Rock", a white diamond of 228.31 carats, the largest ever sold at auction, was sold on Thursday for 18.6 million Swiss francs (17.8 million euros), far from a record in its category.
The last record obtained by Christie's for a similar white diamond (163.41 carats) brought the stone to 33.7 million dollars during a sale in November 2017 in Geneva.
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The auctioneer lowered his hammer in a Geneva hotel after only a handful of minutes of bidding, in a room however full because of the expectations that had aroused this exceptional stone larger than a golf ball.
'The Rock'
, whose height exceeds that of a golf ball, was extracted from a mine in South Africa in the early 2000s. It was then sold by Christie's in a voluntary sale. by private collector.