11ct. Purple to Lead Alrosa Hong Kong Sale

RAPAPORT... An 11-carat diamond will feature in Alrosa's inaugural auctionof colored polished diamonds at the upcoming Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair. The cushion-cut, fancy-deep-purple-pink stone (pictured) -which will lead the sale - is the largest diamond of its color the GIA has graded,Alrosa said Tuesday. The miner will present 250 polished diamonds of variousshapes and colors at the auction, which it has named "True Colour." They will includea vivid-orangey-yellow diamond weighing more than 15 carats, and acushion-shaped, 11-carat, fancy-vivid yellow. The Hong Kong show runs from September12 to 16. "It took more than a year to prepare the collection," said AlrosaCEO Yury Okoemov. "It is a masterpiece of diamond production created byskillful professionals who put heart into their work, keep the traditions, andknow what a real 'Russian cut' is." Alrosa will use the sale as a step toward its goal of expandingfurther into the colored-diamond market, Okoemov added. The miner will sell the collection through a specialelectronic platform, which it used previously to sell large stones, it said.After the initial sale, the company will hold a regular auction for itspolished stones once or twice a year. Starting this year, the miner has been sorting its colored roughdiamonds into 19 color categories, and polishes most of them in its in-house manufacturingdivision.