‘Martian Pink’ Diamond, Rare 12-Carat Stone, Sells for $17 Million [Video]

BBC reports the 12-carat jewel, billed as the “largest round fancy intense pink diamond” ever to come up for auction, was owned by a private collector, and was bought by an anonymous telephone bidder after just six minutes of auction.

“As a round stone, it is one of the most expensive round pink diamonds that’s ever been sold at auction anywhere in the world, so yes it did break a record in that sense,” Rahul Kadakia, Christie’s head of jewelery in the US, and Switzerland, told the British broadcasting giant.

According to Kadakia, the Martian Pink got its name in 1976 when it was sold by Harry Winston, the same year the U.S. sent up a satellite to Mars.

The gem was named for the color of the planet.

“It comes from Harry Winston, who was so impressed that the Americans had landed on Mars in 1976 that he looked at his inventory and he found a rough diamond which probably could come out as pink,” BBC quoted the Christie’s jewelery expert as saying.

“So he cut it, and he cut it in such a way that the intensity of the thing was larger than any of the other things that he had ever cut before.”

Video footage of the Christie’s Martian Pink diamond auction and the winning bid can be seen below: