Why the secondary channel has become an increasingly ­important part of our business—and what it means for the rest of the industry Sometimes it seems like another day, another record set at auction. The sky-high prices that once sent shock waves through the trade have become almost commonplace, with records regularly falling like dominoes. This past year alone, in April, a 28 ct. D internally flawless diamond earned a record per-carat price ($239,352) at Sotheby’s Hong Kong. A month later, in Geneva, Christie’s sold another D flawless—this time, a monster 101.73 carater—and it, too, set a record: $26.7 million, the most ever paid for a colorless stone. That record was toppled just five months later, when Sotheby’s Hong Kong raked in $30.6 million for a 118 ct. D flawless oval on Oct. 7. And on Nov. 13 came the most impressive record of all, when the 59.6 ct. fancy vivid