RAPAPORT... In a market as unstable and dicey as today’s economy, Sotheby’s April 7 Hong Kong auction included a bold move by offering numerous white diamonds weighing 5 to 15 carats. Quek Chin Yeow, deputy chairman and head of jewelry for Sotheby’s Asia, said the market was “particularly robust” for such stones. His faith in the domestic Asian market was rewarded by the sale of all of the top ten lots to Asian privates. Included were five large white stones as well as a light pink diamond, a yellow diamond and a gray-blue diamond. Although the sale was only 50.9 percent sold by value, it did realize $16 million. The top lot, a pair of marquise-shaped D flawless, type IIa diamonds, weighing 8.56 and 8.02 carats, set in earrings, fetched $1,674,680*. Of the 222 lots offered for sale, this one lot accounted for 10 percent of the total value realized.
The cover lot, however, a heart-shaped diamond weighing 28.28 carats — 8 always being auspicious to Chinese buyers — and set in a design commissioned by Sotheby’s, failed to sell. The estimate was $3 million to $3.6 million, leaving a large gap in the auction’s total sale.
Top-Quality DiamondsHeart-shaped stones were scattered throughout the sale, with at least five other lots finding buyers. Among them: a 3.09-carat white diamond that sold above the high estimate for $38,706; another white heart weighing 3.05 carats, set as a pendant, that earned $118,698, also over the high estimate; a 7.37-carat pink heart that fetched $668,323, and a 1.28-carat light pink heart that earned $61,284. Even a jadeite heart pendant found a buyer at $20,965.
Where the firm was successful in selling important diamonds, colored stones, and jadeite, Quek says, was with “a strong buying group of Asian private collectors who are savvy enough to understand the current markets and able to take advantage of selected opportunities offered in the auction in acquiring quality diamonds and stones. Cash-rich clients with good liquidity believed in diversifying into portfolios that include high-quality diamonds.”
Fancy ColorsFancy color diamonds took two of the top ten lots. A 4.37-carat fancy gray-blue marquise-shaped diamond set in a ring with white diamonds doubled its low estimate, selling at a shade under $700,000. A 6.28-carat heart-shaped, fancy intense yellow diamond, set on a necklace with smaller heart-shaped and oval yellow diamonds, sold over the high estimate at $482,535. Every one of the 68 yellow diamonds in this impressive collection carried a Gemological Institute of America (GIA) certificate stating that it was natural color.
While several high-value jadeite lots failed to sell, one did make it into the top ten list. A pair of jadeite pea pod and diamond earrings, featuring exquisite, highly translucent jadeite, was sold just under the high estimate at $381,899. A charming lot centering on three highly trans-lucent icy jadeite cabochons, shaped as peas, within a “pea pod” set throughout with tsavorite garnets, brought $8,870, over the high estimate.
A dramatic necklace comprised of various shapes of color-change alexandrite, total weight of 50.59 carats, and 13.28 carats of diamonds, sold for $436,088.
For Sotheby’s Hong Kong, some of the interest in jewelry has come from new buyers from Mainland China, according to Quek. Many of them, he said, “were transacting at levels that we have not seen from Chinese buyers before.” Given the enormous size of the Chinese population, even a small shift of interest to jewelry could mean significant improvements in auction houses’ bottom lines.
*All prices include buyer’s premium.
Article from the Rapaport Magazine - May 2009. To subscribe click here.