The Fortune Pink vivid pink diamond, said to be the largest of its kind and shape to go on the block, headlined Christie's latest Geneva sale of jewellery.
The price was at the lower end of the expected price range, which was between $38 million and $54 million.
The auction house said an unidentified Asian buyer snapped up the diamond.
Max Fawcett, head of Christie's jewellery department in Geneva, said the stone with a strong, saturated pink colour was mined in Brazil more than 15 years ago.
He declined to identify its owner, but described the diamond as "a true miracle of nature".
Christie's says the first pink diamonds ever recorded were found in India's Golconda mines in the 16th century, before others turned up over the centuries in places including Africa, Australia, Brazil and Russia.
The pink stone's auction followed a showroom tour in New York, Shanghai, Singapore and Taiwan before its arrival in Geneva.
The auction comes six months after Christie's sold The Rock — a 228-carat egg-sized white diamond billed as the largest of its kind to go up for auction — for more than $US21.75 million, including fees. That was also at the low end of the expected range.
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