A huge flawless white diamond which a Sotheby's executive has described as 'the essence of bling' has sold for €11m, the second highest price ever paid for a diamond.
The 84.37 carat stone was bought by Guess Jeans founder Georges Marciano, who named it the 'Chloe Diamond' after his daughter.
It is only eclipsed by the 100.10 carat 'Star of the Season' diamond, which went for €11.3m in May 1995.
The Chloe Diamond did, however, set a new record per-carat price at auction of €131,230.
'It is just a whisker under the world record,' said David Bennett, chairman of jewellery at Sotheby's Europe and Middle East division.
Mr Bennett, who is a jewellery expert with 32 years' experience, said: 'This stone had the ability to take my breath away. It really is the paradigm of a diamond - the essence of bling.'
The diamond was part of a biennial auction in Geneva which yielded sales of just under €39m.
Among the other lots, a blue pear-shaped diamond weighing 4.16 carats, framed by pink diamonds and mounted in a gold ring, went for €3.2m.
