Toronto's Paragon International: "Record Sale of 'Pink Star' Speaks to Strength of Diamond Industry"

TORONTO, April 7, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- One of "the world's great natural treasures," a 59.6-carat pink fancy colored diamond called the 'Pink Star', has sold at a Hong Kong auction for more than $71 million.

The plum-sized fancy colored diamond was mined in Africa in 1999 and was bought in what Sotheby's worldwide chairman for international jewelry described as a "historic sale." Bidding for the diamond began at $56 million and lasted just five minutes.  The largest pink fancy colored diamond ever graded by the Gemological Institute of America, the Pink Star's sale shattered the previous record-holding bid for a fancy pink diamond, the 2010 sale of the 24.78-carat "Graff Pink" for $46.2 million.

"This record-breaking sale illustrates the burgeoning demand for fancy colored diamonds in a market that is poised to see a surge in interest, even as access to these jewels becomes rare and new supplies dip," said Michael King, director of trading at Paragon International Wealth Management, a Toronto-based colored diamond investment firm with more than seven decades of combined experience in the industry.

"The Pink Star is a great example of how fancy colored diamonds are solid investments, one marked for growth even as other assets struggle in a fickle economy," Paragon International Wealth Management's King added.

The largest polished diamond to ever reach the auction block, the Pink Star joins an array of fancy colored diamonds that have sold for big payouts in recent years: in May 2016, the Oppenheimer Blue, the largest vivid blue diamond to ever be auctioned, sold for a then record-breaking $57.5 million at Christie's in Geneva.

Prices for fancy colored diamonds are getting steeper as supplies become tighter. Fancy colored pink diamonds are expected to become especially rare, King said, as Australia's Argyle Diamond mine, the world's only known significant source of fancy red and pink diamonds -- it currently produces more than 90 percent of the world's supply -- is expected to cease operations by 2020.

For further information: www.paragoniwm.com  | email: [email protected] | +1.855.366.5636

ABOUT PARAGON INTERNATIONAL WEALTH MANAGEMENT

Paragon International Wealth Management is a Toronto-based leading wealth management firm specializing in fancy colored diamonds. Fancy colored diamonds have shown higher profit margins year after year when compared to other hard asset investment vehicles, and Paragon International Wealth Management is poised to offer  its clients unmatched advice and guidance in creating a successful hard asset investment portfolio.

SOURCE Paragon International Wealth Management Inc.