The failure of the world's second-largest diamond to sell at auction is no indication that the diamond market is weakening, officials at Christie's auction house said. The flawless golden-hued diamond, weighing 407.48 carats and the size of an egg, was withdrawn from the auction block by its owners Wednesday after they rejected a record bid of $12 million, officials said. It was the second time in as many days that a precious stone expected to sell for a record amount was pulled off the block. On Tuesday, Sotheby's was forced to withdraw the 48-carat royal red Mandalay Ruby, which carried a pre-sale estimate of $15 million, when a high bid of $7.6 million was rejected as insufficient by the gem's owner. The giant diamond was offered for sale by New York jewelry dealers Marvin Samuels and Louis Glick and the Zale Corp., a Dallas-based jewelry retail chain. Zale purchased it as an uncut 890-carat stone in August 1984. The $12 million bid, the highest ever at an auction for a gem, was made by Theodore Horovitz, a Geneva-based jeweler, according to Christie's. ``The fact that the diamond didn't find a buyer is no reflection on the state of the diamond market, which is extremely strong,'' Francis Curiel, head of Christie's jewelry department, said in a statement. The gem was described as the largest ever offered at a public auction. It is second in size only to the 530.20-carat Cullinan I, which is set in Britain's Imperial Sceptre as part of the Crown Jewels. Christie's had resisted estimating how much the diamond would bring, although Curiel noted that an 85.91-carat white diamond was auctioned April 19 for $9.31 million _ a record for any gem.
