Jewish Diamond Dealer Isaac Wolf Welches on $83M ‘Pink Star’

Image by sotheby’s
Sotheby’s auction house said it acquired the “Pink Star” diamond, which had fetched a world-record price in November, after its buyer couldn’t pay and defaulted.
New York-based diamond cutter Isaac Wolf outbid three rivals last November to pay 76.3 million Swiss francs ($83.02 million) for the flawless pink diamond in an auction guaranteed by Sotheby’s.
In a post-earnings conference call, the auction house said it reversed the related commission revenue as a result of the buyer default and recorded the pink diamond in inventory at a value of about $72 million.
“We are currently in discussions with the buyer, while also considering other alternatives,” Patrick McClymont, Sotheby’s CFO said on the call with analysts. “In the meantime, we are quite comfortable with our valuation, and see real value in owning the diamond at this price.”
The world-record price for the diamond, which had been renamed “The Pink Dream” after Wolf acquired it, had included a “buyer’s premium,” or commission fees. The diamond’s pre-sale estimate was $61 million.
The 59.60-carat Pink Star was the main attraction at Sotheby’s November jewels sale in Geneva, which was the highest jewelry sale total for a single auction in history – $199.5 million.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
- 3
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 4
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture I have seen the future of America — in a pastrami sandwich in Queens
-
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
-
Opinion Gaza and Trump have left the Jewish community at war with itself — and me with a bad case of alienation
-
Fast Forward Trump administration restores student visas, but impact on pro-Palestinian protesters is unclear
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.