Summary An 8.72-carat pink diamond ring of Princess Mathilde Bonaparte sold at auction for $15.9 million.
GENEVA (AP) - An 8.72-carat pink diamond ring believed part of a collection once owned by Princess Mathilde Bonaparte sold at auction Tuesday for $15.9 million, according to Sotheby s Geneva.
The auction house said "The Historic Pink Diamond" only recently resurfaced after sitting in a bank vault since the 1940s. A buyer was not disclosed by Sotheby s.
The vibrant cushion-cut diamond is considered extremely rare. It was sold as part of the auction house s Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels sale.
The princess was the niece of Napoleon I and a relative of King George II and the tsar of Russia. She amassed a collection of pearls, diamonds and other jewelry considered second only to the collection of Empress Eugenie, the wife of Napoleon III, Sotheby s said.
Mathilde died in 1904. The pink diamond was believed among her jewels auctioned in Paris in June 1904 and later acquired by William Andrews Clark Sr., a U.S. senator, industrialist and entrepreneur who died in 1925.
After his death, the stone passed to a daughter, Hugette Marcelle Clark, who died in 2011.
The diamond is also considered prized for its cut, a classic, non-modified version of the cushion, Sotheby s said.
The auction house considers the market for colored diamonds and other precious gemstones strong and pink diamonds among the rarest. In October, Sotheby s sold another pink diamond for $17.8 million.
