Pink Diamond Price per Carat: Auction Data and Chart

Short answer: a natural pink diamond can cost anything from about US$15,000 per carat for a small, lightly coloured stone to more than US$5 million per carat for the very best. Sotheby’s puts the entry point for small, lighter natural pinks at around US$15,000 to US$20,000 per carat, while the 11.15-carat Williamson Pink Star sold for about US$5.18 million per carat at Sotheby’s Hong Kong on 7 October 2022. Colour grade, not weight, explains most of that gap.

This page gathers the public price points that exist: auction results with dates, dealer asking prices for 1-carat stones, and the per-carat records. It also shows why nobody can publish a true price index for pink diamonds, and gives a calculator to turn a quote into a total cost, including the buyer’s premium charged at auction.

Pink diamond price per carat at a glance

Pink diamonds are not traded on an exchange, so there is no daily quote like there is for gold. Each stone is priced on its own grading report. The table below summarises the ranges given by named sources. Treat the dealer figures as asking prices at the time each source was written, not as what a stone will fetch when you sell it.

The spread is huge because the word “pink” covers stones that look barely tinted and stones of deep, saturated colour. A 1-carat stone graded Faint Pink and a 1-carat stone graded Fancy Vivid Pink are, in price terms, different products.

How much is a 1 carat pink diamond?

A 1-carat natural pink diamond usually costs somewhere between about US$15,000 and several hundred thousand US dollars. Where it lands depends first on the colour grade, then on clarity, cut and whether the colour is natural. Two dealer examples show the jump between grades. Diamonds.pro cites a 0.59-carat Fancy Intense Purplish Pink round at US$59,100 and a 0.58-carat Fancy Vivid Purplish Pink round at US$174,100, both offered by the same dealer. That is roughly US$100,000 per carat against roughly US$300,000 per carat for stones of almost the same size.

Chart

Asking price per carat by colour, small pinks

US$ thousand per carat; lighter grade is Sotheby’s lower bound, others are dealer listings near 0.6 ct

A 1stDibs expert put an intense pink at US$10,000 to US$70,000 per carat in 2021. That range is lower than the dealer listings above, which is a useful warning: published ranges disagree, they date quickly and they mix asking prices with sale prices.

What to ask for before you pay

• A grading report from a recognised laboratory that states the colour grade and says the colour is natural.
• The colour modifiers in full (for example “Purplish Pink” or “Orangy Pink”), because modifiers move the price.
• Any Argyle certificate or origin document, if the seller claims an Argyle stone.
• Written quotes from at least two dealers on stones with the same grade and similar weight.

Lab-grown and treated pink diamonds also exist and cost far less than natural ones. A report that says “natural colour” is the single most important line on the paper.

How colour grade sets the price

Laboratories grade a pink diamond’s colour on a scale that runs from Faint, Very Light, Light and Fancy Light through Fancy, Fancy Intense, Fancy Vivid and Fancy Deep. Sotheby’s notes that the colour intensity, saturation and hue often weigh more than clarity or carat size. In practice, each step up in saturation can multiply the price per carat.

Infographic

What moves a pink diamond’s price, in order

1. 1Colour gradeFaint to Fancy Vivid.
2. 2ModifierPurplish up, brownish down.
3. 3WeightLarger stones cost more per carat.
4. 4Clarity and originIF, natural colour, Argyle papers.

Secondary colours matter too. A “Purplish Pink” is generally prized, while an “Orangy Pink” or “Brownish Pink” usually costs less than a pure pink of the same strength. Argyle stones were also given the mine’s own colour codes on a numbered scale, and Diamonds.pro notes that some vendors still describe stones on that Argyle 1-9 scale, although laboratory grades are the usual standard.

Why pink diamonds are pink

Most coloured diamonds owe their colour to an impurity: nitrogen gives yellow and boron gives blue. Pink and red diamonds are different. Their colour comes from plastic deformation of the crystal lattice under heat and pressure during or after crystal growth. Many such stones are Type IIa, a type with almost no nitrogen that makes up only about 1.8% of gem diamonds. Because the colour comes from a structural accident rather than a common trace element, there is no way to predict where the next good pink will come from.

Pink diamond auction records

Public auction results are the most reliable price points for pink diamonds, because the hammer price, buyer’s premium and grading are all published. Prices below include the buyer’s premium unless stated.

Chart

Price per carat at auction, selected pink diamonds

US$ thousand per carat, including buyer’s premium (our division of price by weight)

The per-carat column is our division of the published price by the stated weight. Sources: Pink Star record, National Jeweler on the Williamson Pink Star, Pink Legacy, Graff Pink and the Sotheby’s buying guide for the 2024-2026 sales.

What the records show

The Williamson Pink Star weighs less than a fifth of the CTF Pink Star, yet it sold for more than four times as much per carat. National Jeweler reported that its per-carat price set the record for any diamond or gemstone at auction, roughly doubling the mark set by the Pink Legacy in 2018. Both large stones were graded Fancy Vivid, so the difference comes from purity of colour, clarity (the Williamson stone is Internally Flawless) and the market on the day.

The 2024-2026 sales at the lower end are more useful for most buyers. A 13.77-carat Fancy Light stone fetched about US$109,000 per carat, while a 7-carat Fancy Intense stone fetched about US$486,000 per carat. Moving up two colour grades was worth roughly four times the price per carat, even on a smaller stone.

Pink diamond price chart: record prices per carat over time

A chart of record per-carat prices is the closest thing to a public pink diamond price chart. It is not an index of typical stones, and it should not be read as an annual growth rate. It shows that the ceiling for the finest pinks has risen, from about US$1.86 million per carat for the Graff Pink in 2010 to about US$5.18 million per carat for the Williamson Pink Star in 2022.

Chart

Record per-carat prices for pink diamonds

US$ thousand per carat at the sale that set or held the record

The trade does have a paid index. The Fancy Color Research Foundation publishes a Fancy Color Price Index for its members, with data on pink, blue and yellow diamonds. Its figures are not public, so we do not reproduce them here.

Why there is no reliable public price chart

• Most pink diamonds are sold privately, so sale prices are never published.
• Two stones of the same weight can differ in price many times over because of colour grade alone, so an average price per carat across all pinks would mislead.
• Very few large pinks reach the market in any one year, so an annual series would jump with whichever stones happened to sell.
• Dealer price lists are asking prices and often include a retail margin that a seller will not receive.

Price of large pink diamonds: 10, 24 and 25 carats

Pink diamonds near 25 carats almost never come to market. The closest public benchmark is the 24.78-carat Graff Pink, which sold for US$46 million at Sotheby’s Geneva in November 2010, about US$1.86 million per carat, and at the time it was the most expensive single jewel ever sold at auction. Larger stones such as the 59.60-carat CTF Pink Star have sold for more in total but less per carat.

Around 10 carats, the public results again depend on colour. A Fancy Vivid stone of about 11 carats (the Williamson Pink Star) reached US$57.7 million, while a 12.52-carat Fancy Orangy Pink sold for about US$3.6 million in November 2024, and a 13.77-carat Fancy Light Purplish Pink for US$1.5 million in June 2026. At these sizes, a single colour grade can be the difference between a few million dollars and tens of millions.

If you searched for a “24 carat pink diamond”, note that carat is a weight for diamonds (one carat is 0.2 grams), while “24 karat” describes the purity of gold. A 24-carat pink diamond would weigh about 4.8 grams and, if finely coloured, sit in the tens of millions of dollars.

Why price does not rise in a straight line with weight

Large rough pink crystals are much rarer than small ones, and cutting loses much of the weight. The Williamson Pink Star was cut from a 32.32-carat rough crystal bought from Petra Diamonds, according to National Jeweler, and the Pink Star started as a 132.5-carat rough stone. Sotheby’s notes that as carat weight increases, comparable stones become progressively harder to source, which is why the price per carat usually climbs with size within the same colour grade.

Argyle pink diamond prices and the end of supply

Argyle, in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia, was the world’s only reliable source of pink diamonds. It produced an estimated 90 to 95% of all pink and red diamonds before mining stopped on 3 November 2020, after about 865 million carats of rough diamonds in 37 years. Pink, purple and red stones were less than 1% of its output, which was mostly brown. Geoscience Australia described Argyle output in 2009 as mostly industrial and low-value diamonds with rare, high-value pinks, with 10.6 million carats mined that year.

The best Argyle pinks were sold through an invitation-only annual tender from 1984 to 2021. For every 1 million carats of rough pink diamonds the mine produced, only about 1 carat of polished stone was offered at the tender. The final tender was held in 2021, and sales of the last stones mined continued into 2022.

For a buyer, an Argyle origin document adds provenance and is often quoted as a reason for a premium. That premium varies by stone and is not published as an index, so compare like-for-like stones with and without Argyle papers before paying for the name.

Read more on Argyle

We cover the mine’s closure and rehabilitation in Argyle diamond mine closure: sustainability lessons.

▶ The environmental impacts of mining, explained · 2:31

Where pink diamonds are mined today

With Argyle closed, new pink supply comes from occasional finds in other mines rather than from one steady source.

• Tanzania: the Williamson (Mwadui) mine, owned by Petra Diamonds until it sought a buyer in 2021, has produced pink diamonds for decades, including the 54.5-carat stone given to Princess Elizabeth in 1947. The Williamson mine also yielded the rough for the Williamson Pink Star, sold by Petra Diamonds in December 2021.
• South Africa: the Pink Star was mined by De Beers in South Africa in 1999, and the Pink Legacy also came from South Africa.
• Russia, Brazil and Canada: dealers list these among the places that have produced pinks, but only as occasional stones.

Because pink colour depends on deformation of the crystal after it forms, explorers cannot target “pink” directly. Diamond exploration first looks for kimberlite or lamproite pipes, the volcanic rocks that carry diamonds to the surface. Satellite imagery and indicator-mineral sampling help narrow down where those pipes may sit, and only bulk sampling and mining show what colours a deposit actually yields. Our overview of diamond exploration companies lists who is searching today, and types of ore deposits explains how different deposits form.

For mine operators, the same satellite record that supports exploration also supports day-to-day site oversight, from fleet management on large open pits to carbon footprinting for environmental reporting. Buyers asking about origin increasingly expect product traceability from mine to market.

▶ How remote sensing helps narrow down where to explore · 2:01

Is a pink diamond a good investment?

Record auction prices make headlines, but they describe a handful of exceptional stones. For most buyers, a pink diamond is a luxury purchase that may or may not hold its value. Before treating one as an investment, weigh these points:

• Selling costs: auction houses charge sellers’ fees and buyers pay a premium on top of the hammer price, and dealers buy below their own retail price.
• No price transparency: without a public index, it is hard to know what your stone is worth until you try to sell it.
• Liquidity: a stone may take months to sell at a fair price, unlike a listed share or a gold bar.
• Substitutes: lab-grown pink diamonds look similar and cost far less, so grading reports and natural-colour confirmation are essential.
• Supply: Argyle’s closure removed most new supply, which supports prices for fine natural pinks, but demand for luxury goods can fall in downturns.

Investment-grade arguments usually focus on rarity, colour intensity, provenance and size, as the fancy colour diamond literature notes. Those factors explain the auction records; they do not guarantee that any given stone will rise in value. This page is not investment advice.

How to estimate the cost of a pink diamond

1. Get the grading report. Note the weight in carats, the full colour grade and modifiers, the clarity and whether the colour is natural.
2. Find comparable sales. Look for auction results of stones with the same colour grade and a similar weight, using the table above as a starting point.
3. Convert to a price per carat. Divide each comparable sale by its weight so stones of different sizes can be compared.
4. Adjust for size and quality. A larger stone in the same grade usually costs more per carat; a lower clarity or a brownish modifier usually costs less.
5. Add the costs of buying. At auction, add the buyer’s premium; at a dealer, ask whether taxes and certification are included.
6. Get two written quotes. Compare dealers on the same report rather than on description alone.

The calculator below turns steps 3 to 5 into a total. Use your own figures: the default values are examples only.

Frequently asked questions

How much is a pink diamond worth?

From about US$15,000 per carat for small, lightly coloured natural pinks to more than US$5 million per carat for the finest Fancy Vivid stones at auction, according to Sotheby’s. Colour grade is the main driver.

How much does a 1 carat pink diamond cost?

Usually between about US$15,000 and several hundred thousand US dollars. Dealer listings cited by Diamonds.pro show stones of about 0.6 carat at roughly US$100,000 per carat for Fancy Intense and US$300,000 per carat for Fancy Vivid.

What is the most expensive pink diamond ever sold?

The 59.60-carat CTF Pink Star, sold for US$71.2 million at Sotheby’s Hong Kong on 4 April 2017. The highest price per carat belongs to the 11.15-carat Williamson Pink Star, at about US$5.18 million per carat in October 2022.

Is there an official pink diamond price chart?

No public index exists. The Fancy Color Research Foundation publishes a members-only price index; public auction results are the best open data.

Why are Argyle pink diamonds so valuable?

Argyle produced an estimated 90 to 95% of the world’s pink and red diamonds and closed in November 2020, so no new Argyle stones will be mined. Origin papers add provenance that buyers value.

What is the price of a 2 carat pink diamond?

It depends on colour grade. Price per carat usually rises with size within the same grade, so a 2-carat stone typically costs more than twice a comparable 1-carat stone. Ask for quotes on stones with matching reports.

How much is an uncut pink diamond worth?

Rough pink diamonds are valued by cutters on the expected yield and colour after cutting, and those sales are mostly private. Much of the weight is lost in cutting: the Williamson Pink Star came from a 32.32-carat rough crystal.

Are lab-grown pink diamonds cheaper?

Yes, far cheaper than natural pinks of the same size and colour. A grading report from a recognised laboratory states whether a stone is natural and whether its colour is natural.

Where do pink diamonds come from?

Most came from Australia’s Argyle mine. Others have come from the Williamson mine in Tanzania and from South Africa, with occasional stones from Russia, Brazil and Canada.

Do pink diamonds go up in value?

Record per-carat prices for the finest stones rose between 2010 and 2022, but that does not show what typical stones did. Selling costs and low liquidity can erase gains on ordinary stones.

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