New York—Christie’s will auction a 10-carat fancy intense pink diamond during Luxury Week next month, following a prolonged website outage due to a “technology security incident.
ArtNews reported Monday that Christie’s website and app were restored Sunday, ending an outage that began the evening of May 9.
Christie’s has remained tight-lipped about the cause of the incident, suspected to be a cyberattack, and has not detailed measures to prevent future occurrences. The auction house stated, “Our website and app are now back online, through the efforts of the team, with full functionality. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to our clients for their patience. Our investigation into this incident is ongoing, and therefore we are not able to share any further information at this moment.”
Despite the online disruption, Christie’s conducted several live auctions last week, including the “Only Watch” charity auction ($31.3 million total) and the “Magnificent Jewels” and “Rare Watches” sales in Geneva, which together garnered about $80 million.
On Tuesday, Christie’s announced the highlight of its New York “Magnificent Jewels” sale on June 11: a 10.20-carat internally flawless fancy intense pink diamond named “The Eden Rose.” This rare round brilliant-cut diamond is expected to fetch $9 million to $12 million, or $882,353 to $1.2 million per carat.
Christie’s described it as the most significant internally flawless, round brilliant, fancy intense pink diamond to appear at auction in over a decade. The last comparable sale was in 2012, when the 12.04-carat “The Martian Pink” diamond sold for $17.4 million, or $1.4 million per carat, at a Christie’s auction in Hong Kong.
Rahul Kadakia, Christie’s International Head of Jewelry, remarked, “The Eden Rose has never been offered at auction, and we are proud to present a jewel of its unmatched caliber for the first time this June in New York.
“The Eden Rose” will be exhibited in Hong Kong from May 24 to 27, then displayed in New York during Luxury Week at Christie’s Rockefeller Center gallery from June 7 to 10.
