--- title: Most Expensive Diamond: Sotheby's Auctions Perfect Diamond description: A rare 100-carat diamond sold for $22 million at a Sotheby's auction in New York City Tuesday, according to the auction house. canonical: https://time.com/3831096/perfect-sothebys-diamond/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-22T12:18:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:19:00.022Z og:title: See the 'Perfect' Diamond That Sold for $22 Million at Sotheby's og:description: "This diamond is exceptional in every sense of the word," the auction house said og:url: https://time.com/3831096/perfect-sothebys-diamond/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d356fd6838fc7e6/6987ec490b72e3d2d46e1a15/100-carat-diamond-sothebys.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Diamond og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See the 'Perfect' Diamond That Sold for $22 Million at Sotheby's twitter:description: "This diamond is exceptional in every sense of the word," the auction house said twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d356fd6838fc7e6/6987ec490b72e3d2d46e1a15/100-carat-diamond-sothebys.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See the 'Perfect' Diamond That Sold for $22 Million at Sotheby's ## Video: ANSWERS: DESIGNER DOGS [Watch (HLS stream): ANSWERS: DESIGNER DOGS](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/HlrH8Ag1.m3u8) (1:07)  _Published 2014-08-28. ANSWERS: DESIGNER DOGS_  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Apr 22, 2015 12:18 PM UTC  A 100-carat emerald-cut D color diamond, which was mined by De Beers in southern Africa. A 100-carat emerald-cut D color diamond, which was mined by De Beers in southern Africa.Reuters  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Apr 22, 2015 12:18 PM UTC A rare 100-carat diamond sold for $22 million at a [Sotheby’s](http://www.sothebys.com/en.html) auction in New York City Tuesday. The emerald-cut diamond, D color diamond is the largest of its kind ever sold at an auction, according to the auction house. It is also one of only six perfect diamonds of 100 carats or more to be auctioned in the last 25 years. “This diamond is exceptional in every sense of the word, and we were thrilled to see it achieve such a strong result,” said Lisa Hubbard, chairman of Sotheby’s Jewelry Division in the Americas. “The stone captivated people around the world.” The auction of rare jewels netted a total of more than $65 million, a record for Sotheby’s New York’s jewelry division, according to the auction house. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3831096/perfect-sothebys-diamond/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3831096/perfect-sothebys-diamond/"},"headline":"See the 'Perfect' Diamond That Sold for $22 Million at Sotheby's","datePublished":"2015-04-22T12:18:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:19:00.022Z","description":"\"This diamond is exceptional in every sense of the word\"","url":"https://time.com/3831096/perfect-sothebys-diamond/","keywords":["Newsfeed","U.S."],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d356fd6838fc7e6/6987ec490b72e3d2d46e1a15/100-carat-diamond-sothebys.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d356fd6838fc7e6/6987ec490b72e3d2d46e1a15/100-carat-diamond-sothebys.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Diamond","caption":"A 100-carat emerald-cut D color diamond, which was mined by De Beers in southern Africa.","creditText":"Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3831096/perfect-sothebys-diamond/","name":"See the 'Perfect' Diamond That Sold for $22 Million at Sotheby's"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"ANSWERS: DESIGNER DOGS","description":"ANSWERS: DESIGNER DOGS","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/HlrH8Ag1/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-08-28T01:52:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/HlrH8Ag1.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3831096/perfect-sothebys-diamond/","duration":"PT1M7S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3831096/perfect-sothebys-diamond/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```