Rare Pink Diamond Sets Auction Record

Hold on to your haute couture, jewelry hounds. One whopper of a diamond just entered the hands of a lucky (and filthy rich) bidder on Tuesday.

A rare, 5-carat pink diamond was auctioned off by Christie's Hong Kong for a record $10.8 million, putting some shine back into the world's rare and large stones market.

The stone, of a "vivid pink" hue and considered near perfect but not quite flawless, triggered brisk bidding with a final price that smashed the previous record set 15 years ago in Geneva for a 19.66-carat stone that sold for $7.4 million. The pink gem's per-carat price of $2.2 million was also the highest ever paid for any diamond at auction, Christie's said.

"No stone has ever been sold for $2 million a carat, we were used to ... a million dollars a carat for colored diamonds but never 2 million," Francois Curiel, Christie's Europe chairman told Reuters. "This is an absolute record that is not going to be broken for a while I believe."

But the famed Wittelsbach Blue Diamond still holds the record as the world's most expensive jewel ever sold at auction, fetching a mere $24 million last year. Just a drop in the proverbial bucket, right?

Pink diamonds have always been coveted by the rich, the famous and we mere mortals alike. Click here to see which celeb dazzled their loved one with a pink diamond engagement ring for the ages - not quite 10 carats, but a keeper nonetheless.