Will the real Casanova please stand up?

My, my ... aren’t we a romantic bunch here in Shanghai. After much excitement about the auction of the most precious natural diamond in the city’s auction history, the 19.305-carat stone failed to attract a single bid during an auction on Monday.

The "Siam Star" diamond, originally from South Africa and measuring almost two centimetres across, had been expected to fetch in the vicinity of 10 million RMB.

According to this report, the auction was scheduled to begin at 2 pm, but was delayed until 3 pm before finally being called off. Shanghaiist, while extremely keen to bid for the diamond (particularly with Valentine’s Day approaching), happened to be stuck in a taxi under the Huangpu tunnel and, after trying to track down the number of the auction house via Guanxi, discovered we had no credit left on our phone. What a shame they couldn’t wait another half hour. We even had the 10 million in fresh bills piled up in our "Adidas" backpack that we got for 35 kuai at Xiangyang market. Nothing would have stopped us from bidding.

So, why were there no other buyers?

"High-end jewelry auctions are still new in China," Xu said. "That may be the main reason the precious stone was not sold at the auction."

Either that, or the blokes in this city just don't know the meaning of romance. It's not like they don't have the cash.

The report adds that the diamond may be offered again at a jewelry show in April. So here at Shanghaiist we’re going to hang on to our hundreds, occasionally dipping into the pile for a Whopper up at the Jing’an Temple Burger King, or a DVD every now and then, and make sure we’re in the front row when the guy with the gavel hits the stage.