GENEVA — The 110-carat, dazzling yellow “Sun-Drop Diamond” sold for $10.91 million yesterday to an unidentified buyer at auction in Geneva.
The gem (inset) was sold before an audience of about 150 at a luxury Geneva hotel.
The price was slightly less than pre-sale estimates that predicted the gem — big enough to cover half a finger — would go for $11 million to $15 million.
Known as a “fancy vivid yellow pear-shape,” the diamond was discovered in South Africa in 2010 and was displayed at London’s Natural History Museum earlier this year.
It had no previous owners, so the winning bidder, whom Sotheby’s did not identify, could also name it.
“It’s the largest vivid yellow pear-shape known — at 110 carats it’s absolutely huge,” said David Bennett, Sotheby’s head of jewelry for Europe and the Middle East. “Every time we’ve shown it around the world, people have gone, ‘Oh my God.’ ”