Wittelsbach Blue Diamond updates :- A rare, 5-carat pink diamond was auctioned off for a record $10.8 million in Hong Kong on Tuesday, putting some shine back into the world’s rare and large stones market which was badly hit by the financial crisis.

The stone, of a “vivid pink” hue and considered near perfect, but not quite flawless, triggered brisk bidding in Christie’s autumn sales of Asian and Chinese art in Hong Kong.

The price smashed the previous record, set 15 years ago in Geneva for a 19.66-carat stone that sold for $7.4 million. The pink gem’s per-carat price of $2.2 million was also the highest ever paid for any diamond at auction, Christie’s said.

“No stone has ever been sold for $2 million a carat, we were used to … a million dollars a carat for colored diamonds but never 2 million,” said Francois Curiel, Christie’s Europe chairman. “This is an absolute record that is not going to be broken for a while I believe.”

The stone, set in a so-called “cushion-cut” ring by famed jewelers Graff Diamonds, was just a quarter the size of the Geneva stone and not quite flawless but the stone’s “vivid pink” is considered near perfect. Curiel described it as a “fabulous pink diamond, probably one of the rarest stones I’ve ever seen.”

While the South African-mined diamond isn’t quite rated flawless given minor blemishes, Christie’s said that these could be removed by minor repolishing.

Christie’s has a track-record of putting rare polished stones up for sale in Asia, given its confidence in the depth of the Asian market for the world’s top gemstones and artwork.

Last May, before the financial crisis began to hurt the global auction market, Christie’s sold a squash-ball-sized, 101.27-carat diamond in Hong Kong for $6.2 million. More and Thanks for Wittelsbach Blue Diamond

LONDON: Two well-dressed thieves walked into a London Bond Street jewelry store last week and, after brandishing handguns at shop workers, made off with $65 million worth of gems in one of Britain’s biggest jewelry heists, police said Tuesday.

Security camera footage released by police shows two men in crisp suits entering Graff Diamonds’ flagship store Thursday afternoon. It was the third time a Graff store in London had been targeted in a high-profile raid in the past six years.

The men stole dozens of high-end rings, bracelets, necklaces and watches worth 40 million pounds, or $65 million, and fired two gunshots into the ground as they escaped in a series of getaway cars, police said. No one was hurt.

It was among the biggest heists in British history — far outstripping the 1963 Great Train Robbery in which 2 million pounds were lost.

Last week’s theft, however, was topped by the 2006 robbery of 53 million pounds in cash from a security company depot in southern England, and was rivaled by the 1987 theft of an estimated 40 million pounds from the Knightsbridge Safe Deposit Center in London.

Police declined to rank Thursday’s robbery, saying only that it was one of the country’s biggest. Items stolen included a pair of white diamond double hoop earrings, a flowing flower necklace with yellow diamond petals, a platinum white Marquise diamond ring and a Chronograff watch, police said.

Graff’s store, a classical stucco and stone town house in London’s jewelry district, has been targeted by thieves in the past.