Brett Stettner
STUNNER:This 9-carat pink diamond once belonged to reclusive heiress Huguette Clark.
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A dazzling pink diamond that had been gathering dust since the 1940s in a bank vault, sold at auction last night for a staggering $15.7 million.
The rare, 9-carat gem, formerly owned by reclusive copper heiress Huguette Clark, was the centerpiece of her personal jewelry collection, which fetched $20.8 million at Christie’s.
The stone, mounted on a ring, was the most valuable pink diamond ever sold in America.
It was part of the second-most valuable private jewelry collection ever auctioned in the United States, just behind the gems that once belonged to Elizabeth Taylor.
It had been expected to sell for $6 million to $8 million.
“I’m very excited,” said self-proclaimed “diamondier’’ Brett Stettner, 38, the winning bidder, who told The Post he planned to name the diamond after himself.
“I’m going to put my heart and soul into making this stone the best it can possibly be,” he said.
“It’s an honor to have a stone with such a provenance. I’m out for perfection,’’ said Stettner, who he has been working with precious gems since he was 14.
“The diamond will speak to me,” he said. “Right now it says ‘I’m gorgeous, make me better.’ ”
Almost all of Clark’s jewels fetched at least double their estimated value at the auction.
They included:
* A stunning, rectangular-cut, 20-carat Cartier diamond ring that had been expected to sell for about $3 million. It went for $7.5 million.
* A single strand of pearl necklace from Tiffany & Co., estimated to be worth $30,000. It snared $362,500.
* An American-flag brooch, estimated to be worth $40,000, that sold for $80,500.
Clark, who died last May at age 104, hadn’t even looked at any of the jewels since the 1940s, said Rahul Kadakia, head of jewelry, at Christie’s.
After Clark’s death, Kadakia was the first person in more than six decades to enter the Manhattan bank vault where the precious treasures were hidden.
The gem sale is the latest twist in the bizarre life of the heiress, who cut her entire family out of her will, but left $35 million to her nurse. The bulk of her $400 million fortune was left to charity.
Additional reporting by Frank Rosario and Dan MacLeod