The Vivid Pink is the largest potentially flawless fancy-vivid-pink diamond ever offered for sale at auction.

Property of a private collector and set in a ring by renowned jeweler Laurence Graff, the diamond is expected to fetch HK $39-$55 million (about $5 million-$7 million).

Christie’s fall Hong Kong sale is set for Dec. 1.

Prior to the sale, The Vivid Pink will be on display in the following cities: New York, Oct. 17-20 at Christie’s Rockefeller Center Galleries; Singapore, Oct. 29-30 (by appointment only); Bangkok, Thailand, Nov. 11-12 (by appointment only); Geneva, Nov. 15-17 at the Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues; Taipei, Taiwan, Nov. 21-22 at the Fubon Life Assurance Building; and Hong Kong, Nov. 27-Dec. 1 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The current record for a pink diamond sold at auction is $7.4 million, fetched by a 19.66-carat rectangular-cut fancy-pink diamond with VVS2 clarity, which sold at Christie’s Geneva in November 1994.

The space diamond is virtually an enormous chunk of crystallized carbon, 4,000 kilometers in diameter. The stone is located at a distance of 50 light years from Earth, in the Constellation Centaurus.

Scientists believe that the diamond is the heart of an extinct star that used to shine like the Sun. Astronomers have already dubbed the space diamond as Lucy in a tribute to the Beatles song ‘Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.’

“You would need a jeweler’s loupe the size of the Sun to grade this diamond!” says astronomer Travis Metcalfe (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), who leads a team of researchers that discovered the giant gem.

The cosmic stone completely outclasses all diamonds that have ever been found on Earth. The largest diamond weighing 546 carats was found in South African Republic. The diamond, The Star of Africa, resides in the Crown Jewels of England. The Star of Africa was cut from the largest diamond ever found on Earth, a 3,100-carat gem.

Lucy, also known as BPM 37093, is actually a crystallized white dwarf. A white dwarf is the hot core of a star, left over after the star uses up its nuclear fuel and dies. It is made mostly of carbon and is coated by a thin layer of hydrogen and helium gases.

The white dwarf is not only radiant but also harmonious. It rings like a gigantic gong, undergoing constant pulsations. “By measuring those pulsations, we were able to study the hidden interior of the white dwarf, just like seismograph measurements of earthquakes allow geologists to study the interior of the Earth. We figured out that the carbon interior of this white dwarf has solidified to form the galaxy’s largest diamond,” says Metcalfe.

Astronomers say that our Sun will die in five billion years and become a white dwarf too. About two billion years after it will turn into a similar diamond that will continue to sparkle in the center of the solar system forever.

The jewel — the largest top-quality, brilliant-cut white diamond ever to appear at auction — had been valued by Sotheby’s at between $13.3 million and $17.8 million.

Marciano’s winning bid, made by telephone, came to $16,189,769 including the buyer’s premium. It was just short of the all-time auction record for a stone or piece of jewelry, a record held by the same Sotheby’s branch in Geneva for a 100.1-carat diamond that fetched $16.5 million in 1995.

“In my 32-year career, this stone ranks among the most beautiful diamonds I have ever seen,” said David Bennett, the auction house’s chairman of jewelry for Europe and the Middle East. He called it a “magnificent and unique stone.”

The diamond has received the highest possible grading, Sotheby’s said. It is D-color, or finest white, has flawless clarity, and its cut, polish and symmetry have all been graded excellent, it said.

The New York-based company is hoping the “Magnificent Jewels” sale at Geneva’s historic Beau Rivage hotel will help it bounce back from the disheartening results of its Impressionist and Modern Art auction, which sent its stock tumbling.

The sale last week fetched $269.7 million, well short of estimates, and led some analysts to speculate whether the flight from risk currently gripping financial markets may be spilling over into the art world.

The company announced that it lost $14.6 million by purchasing paintings that failed to sell.

The white diamond already has been showcased in Hong Kong, Paris, New York, Rome, Los Angeles, London, Dubai and Bahrain. The auction Wednesday also featured other diamonds, colored stones and gems from the world’s leading jewelers.

And as a symbol of eternal love, the most recognizes symbol of love is no doubt ring with diamond. Beautiful solitaire diamond in combination with gold, white gold, platinum or titanium is best choice for this.
Top choice for material is titanium these times. Titanium is recognized as top quality and most enduring material for jewellery. Beautiful titanium rings are perfect symbol of unceasing love, because titanium is one of the strongest metal ever. And considering this, titanium is really romantic choice for life-long wedding band.

One of those couples was Extreme Makeover plastic surgeon, Garth Fisher, and his girlfriend Jessica Canseco who had appeared in Playboy but is now an anesthesiologist in Beverly Hills. Garth, who divorced Rock Star: Supernova hostess Brooke Burke in 2005, and Jessica had been dating a year.

A Party Question
Garth popped the question at a holiday party hosted by Dr. 90210’s Paul Nassif. In fact, Paul had introduced the couple at the same party a year earlier so it was the ideal locations for that all-important moment. Of course, the big question wouldn’t be complete without a gorgeous engagement ring and Garth didn’t disappoint. He presented Jessica with a 6-carat canary yellow diamond ring – after she said “yes.”

Popping the question for the second couple was comedian and former Saturday Night Live cast member, Chris Kattan. Chris and his model girlfriend, Sunshine Tutt, had been dating since 2005 after they met a friend’s birthday party in Los Angeles.

An Engaging Fraud
Keeping with his humorous roots, Chris wrapped up the engagement ring in a cheap box so she wouldn’t suspect what was coming. The big moment came at Sunshine’s grandparents house on Christmas Eve in Gainesville, Texas. Needless to say, she was surprised and thrilled when she realized the cheap box was a fraud.

The final couple is Lisa Ling and Paul Song. While you may remember Lisa as a co-host on The View, an Oprah Winfrey Show guest, or a National Geographic Explorer correspondent, Paul’s name probably won’t ring a bell unless someone you know has had cancer in the Chicago area. That’s because Paul is an oncologist, not a celebrity.

Lisa and Paul were introduced through friends after she ended her engagement to Phil Levine, a media entrepreneur, in 2005. For the big question, Paul flew his and Lisa’s parents to Chicago and reserved a private dining room at the a nice restaurant. Everyone was present when he popped the question and heard the word every man hopes to hear from the woman he loves: “Yes.”

All of these couples have found a potential partner to share their futures with but what can you take away from their stories as you begin planning your own engagement?

And the Tips Are…
For starters, let’s talk about the reasons why the holidays are a great time for popping the question. If you believe very strongly in family and want your loved ones around you when you ask, then the holidays are a good time because your girlfriend is less likely to be suspicious. Imagine the kind of questions she’d be asking (or thinking) if you just wanted to get everyone together out of the blue. You’ve pretty much ruined the element of surprise.

Of course that doesn’t mean you have to choose the Christmas season. You could choose your girlfriend’s birthday, Thanksgiving, Easter, the Fourth of July, or any holiday where your family gets together regularly.

Heading for a Fall?
And that brings us to the idea of popping the question with an audience. All three couples became engaged in front of their family and/or friends. In the past, an audience was reserved for engagement announcements, not popping the question. Today, men want to share this moment with others. Of course, you have to be prepared for the dreaded responses: “I don’t know what to say,” “I need time to think,” or “I can’t marry you.” While those answers sting in private, they can be devastating in front of an audience. Avoid popping the question around others if you’re not confident about what response you’ll be getting.

If you are unsure, then consider asking the question in private then gathering your friends or family together to announce your engagement. It’s safer for your ego.

Finally, we can’t leave the topic of celebrity engagements without discussing the ring. Remember Garth presented Jessica with a large yellow diamond which might be confusing if you’re familiar with the color-rankings of diamonds. Generally, a yellow diamond is at the low end of the scale because they aren’t desirable. The rule of thumb is typically the more colorless the diamond is the better.

However, canary yellow diamonds are a big exception to that rule. These diamonds are extremely rare: only 0.1% of all known diamonds in the world fall into this category. They also have a very intense yellow color which you won’t find in the flawed colored stones you’re usually advised to avoid. Curious about how much Jessica’s 6-carat canary diamond is worth? Well, let’s just say that an engagement ring with a 5/8 carat canary diamond cost just over $1,300. For us ordinary people, a canary diamond is probably out of our budgets, at least if you want to get your girlfriend one that’s going to be visible on her finger. In our price range, you want to avoid the yellow coloring.

Hopefully, you now have a few more ideas about how to get engaged. You might not be able to fly in all of the families or buy a huge, rare diamond engagement ring, but you can make the moment as special as possible for the love of your life.

The most important advantage of a loose diamond is that it can be set in any kind of metal, with any kind of design a person desires. There are 4 C’s that people must keep in mind before planning to buy diamonds. The most essential one is cut. This does not refer to the shape of the diamond in the diamond ring. It actually refers to the angle at which the diamond is cut to obtain the maximum brilliance. Sometimes a jeweler can also cut a diamond wider and flatter in order to make the diamond look bigger. Clarity deals with the size of inclusions in the ring. It is always advisable to pick up diamond jewelry that have a fewer inclusions. A colorless or pure white diamond is exceptionally uncommon and expensive. The difference between a colorless and a nearly colorless diamond can rarely be found. Carat is the size or weight measurement of the diamond.

In recent times loose diamonds are becoming more popular. Loose diamonds are those that have not yet been placed in a piece of jewelry. Loose diamonds were originally mined in India thousands of years ago. However, most of the diamonds are found in Africa.

Loose diamonds can also be bought online, but it is always well again to see the actual stone before buying, as an image cannot help a buyer decide its quality.