If You Liked It Then You Should Have Put A Bid On It: Pink Diamond Sells For $46 Million

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A model poses with a 24.78 carat fancy intense pink diamond during a Sotheby's auction preview on November 10, 2010 in Geneva.

FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images

NewsFeed was going to bid $47 million, but we decided to spend our money on something more useful, like a yacht filled with white truffle pudding.

A diamond is forever, but most world records aren’t. As proof of these maxims, a rare pink diamond today shattered the record for any precious stone sold at auction, fetching an astonishing $46 million at a Sotheby’s auction in Geneva. The free-spending new owner of the 24.78 carat diamond was Laurence Graff, a British jeweler.

More on TIME.com: The top 10 most expensive auction items

The stone’s vibrant pink color and exquisite cut propelled it over previous record holder the Wittelsbach Diamond, which went for $24 million in 2008 — also to Graff. (The dealer faced criticism from art historians when he recut that stone after purchasing it, reducing it to 31 karats from 35; he then renamed it the Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond.) Though the pink diamond  lacks the royal history of the Wittelsbach it is still exceedingly rare and had not been seen since being acquired from Harry Winston by an anonymous collector 60 years ago.

As people who have trouble appreciating the finer things in life, $46 million sounds like a bit too much to spend on a stone, but who are we to tell Graff how to spend his money? If we were him, we would have spent the $40 million on something silly — like severance pay for Conan O’Brien, bonuses to our favorite newspaper executives or a Hollywood drama. (via Bloomburg)