The Rock, the largest white diamond ever sold at auction, fetched 21.7 million Swiss francs ($21.9 million) on Wednesday, well below this type of jewellery record. The 228.31-carat stone was sold at Christie’s in Geneva, larger than a golf ball.

Expectations were high when the Rock sold a 163.41-carat gem in Geneva in 2017 for $33.7 million, breaking a world record. But the bidding, which started at CHF 14 million, ended two minutes later at CHF 18.6 million, rising to CHF 21.7 million after adding a buyer’s premium.

The pre-sale estimate is 19-30 million Swiss francs. The Rock is a perfectly symmetrical pear-shaped diamond sold by an unnamed owner from North America. A private collector purchased it through a telephone auction. Rahul Kadakia, head of international jewellery at Christie’s, dropped the hammer in the lavish Hotel des Bergues to thunderous applause.

Diamonds are colour graded from D to Z; Kadakia told AFP that while the overall record was not met, The Rock set a new world record for G colour diamonds per carat. The large diamond was extracted from a mine in South Africa in the early 2000s and exhibited in Dubai, Taipei and New York ahead of the Geneva auction. The Rock next to a historic deep yellow diamond linked to the Red Cross for more than a century has been snapped up.

The seven-figure proceeds will be donated to the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross as war engulfs the continent again. The Red Cross Diamond, a 205.07-carat cushion-shaped canary yellow gemstone, sold for CHF 14.2 million, including the buyer’s premium, well above its estimate of CHF 7-10 million.

Multiple bidders fought fiercely for the gem for 10 minutes, culminating in a duel in 50,000-franc increments, with a private collector winning the bid. The rough was discovered at the De Beers mines in South Africa in 1901 and is said to have weighed about 375 carats. Besides being the largest diamond globally, one of its distinguishing features is its pavilion, which naturally takes on the shape of a Maltese cross.

The gem was first sold at Christie’s in London on April 10, 1918. The Diamond Syndicate provides it to help the British Red Cross and the Order of St John. In today’s currency, the Red Cross diamond sold for around £600,000 ($740,000) for £10,000. London jeweller SJ Phillips bought it.

• What is Stock Order : Types, Differences & How Order Works
• India’s Business Activity Hits 3-Month High in Nov Amid Rising Costs
• Trudeau to Cut Sales Tax and Send Checks to Canadians Ahead of Election
• Ashwini Vaishnaw Encourages German Companies to Invest in India
• Flipkart Appoints Dan Bartlett to Board

In 1973, Christie’s sold again in Geneva for 1.8 million Swiss francs the auction house has sold. Also sold was the tiara of Princess Irma of Furstenberg (1867-1948), one of the most famous nobles of the Habsburg Empire, estimated to be CHF 400,000 to 600,000. However, it sold for a much higher price: 2.4 million francs, attracting attention in a prominent position at the pre-sale show.