A 59.6 carat diamond known as the Pink Star has sold for $71.2 million at a Sotheby's auction in Hong Kong, setting a world record for any diamond or jewel, according to the auction house.

The oval mixed-cut diamond smashed the 60 million US dollars pre-sale estimate set by Sotheby's when it went on the block.

The sale comes three years after the gem was sold at an even higher price at another Sotheby's auction in Geneva. That deal later fell apart.

Sotheby's said the gem is the largest flawless fancy vivid pink diamond ever graded by the Gemological Institute of America. 

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