HONG KONG, April 4. /TASS/. A plum-sized 59.60-karat "Pink Star’ diamond went for $71.2 million at Sotheby's in Hong Kong on Tuesday thus becoming the most expensive gemstone ever sold at an auction.

The flawless vivid pink diamond described as "one of the world’s greatest natural treasures" has also become the highest-priced item ever sold at an auction in Asia.

The starting price was some $51.6 mln and the auction lasted for six minutes.

Sotheby's said it was sold to a client who phoned in a bid.

According to Daily Telegraph, the buyer is jewelry retailer Chow Tai Fook. 

The Pink Star mined by De Beers in South Africa in 1999 first went for sale at a Sotheby's auction in Geneva and fetched a record $83 million in Geneva, but the buyer, American diamond cutter Isaac Wolf, defaulted on his payment and the jewel was added to Sotheby’s inventory.

It took nearly two years to cut the Pink Star from a rough diamond.