The Pink Legacy diamond sold at the world record price

A rare pink diamond reached 50.3 million Swiss francs ($ 50 million, £ 38.5 million) at auction, a record price per carat.

Pink Legacy, weighing just under 19 carats, was bought by the American brand Harry Winston at auction in Geneva.

The price of about $ 2.6 million per carat marked a world record for a rose diamond, according to Christie's auction house manager Christie's.

It had been priced between $ 30 and $ 50 million before the sale and had been purchased after only five minutes of bidding.

The new diamond owners have renamed Winston Pink Legacy.

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The diamond, which once belonged to the Oppenheimer family and previously ran the De Beers mining company, was named "one of the largest diamonds in the world" by Christie's international jeweler, Rahul Kadakia.

"You can see this color in a pink diamond of less than one carat," said Kadakia. "But it's almost 19 carats and it's as pink as possible – it's amazing."

It has been classified as "bright fantasy" – the highest level of color intensity.

The rectangular cut stone was found in a South African mine about a hundred years ago and has probably not been changed since its first cut in 1920, said Christie's.

Finding a bright pink diamond of over 10 carats is virtually unknown, said the auction house.

The Pink Legacy Diamond auction price, sold at the annual auction of Christie's Magnificent Jewels, broke the previous carat price record.

In November 2017, a pink 8.41 carat diamond was sold in Hong Kong for $ 17,768,041 (11,438,714 pounds), or more than $ 2.1 million per carat.