NATION : Agra Diamond, World’s Seventh Largest, Sold for $7 Million
A Hong Kong jewelry company paid a record $7 million for the Agra Diamond, a pink stone that once adorned the turban of a Mongol emperor, Christie’s said today.
A spokeswoman for the auction house said the sale of various jewels Wednesday netted a record $20.7 million, with the Agra Diamond being the most prominent item.
The 32.24-carat stone is the seventh-largest pink diamond in the world, and was once owned by Babur, the central Asian warlord who conquered northern India in 1526 and founded the Mongol empire.
She said it was purchased for $7 million by Ciba Corp., a leading Hong Kong jewelry firm.
The spokeswoman said the sum was the highest ever paid for a pink diamond. It had been owned by a private English collector.
Babur received the diamond in exchange for sparing the lives of the family of the maharajah of Gwalior, and named it after the site of his capital, where one of his successors, Shah Jehan, later built the Taj Mahal.
The emperor also bagged the Kohinoor diamond, which now sits in the Tower of London as a part of the crown jewels. But the pink stone was his favorite and was worn on the front of his turban.
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