Onassis diamond sells for £3.6m at record-breaking Christie's auction

Diamonds are supposed to be forever.

But not if you're Athina Onassis, who yesterday sold a flawless 38-carat diamond that belonged to her heiress mother Christina for £3,625,000 at auction.

The pear-shaped, colourless Christina Onassis Diamond, which is the centrepiece of a pendant necklace, was bought for twice its estimated value by an anonymous phone bidder.

Athina, 23, sold 44 of her mother's jewels for £6.8million, nearly three times the £2.5million estimate.

Christina was the daughter of billionaire Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis.
She died from a heart attack in 1987 aged just 37 after a history of drug abuse, weight problems and four failed marriages.

Her daughter, who is Aristotle's sole descendant, sold the collection in a jewellery sale at Christie's in London because it was said to be too old-fashioned for her.

Raymond Sancroft-Baker, Christie's jewellery expert, said: 'She's a young girl and she just doesn't wear them.

'She wants to feel comfortable in what she wears. That era has gone.'

The items were among a total of 230 lots by designers such as Cartier and Van Cleef and Arpels.

Christie's said Christina's gems were the highlight of the day's auction, which made a total of £15million - a British record for a jewellery sale.

Among the other items in her collection was a Faberge Buddha ornament from Aristotle's yacht, which fetched £1,273,250.

'Richest girl in the world': Greek heiress Athina Onassis and her husband, Alvaro Alfonso de Miranda Neto.