Is it déjà vu all over again? After the record-shattering sale of the 24.78-carat pink at Sotheby’s Geneva on November 16, 2010, which sold for $46 million, it seemed as if the market would still be in recovery mode. That was not the case, however, on November 29, as Christie’s Hong Kong stepped up to the plate, offering yet another astonishing pink diamond, and hit one out of the ballpark. This stone, a fancy intense pink in a rare rectangular cut, weighing 14.23 carats, VVS2, was estimated to bring $14 million to $19 million. It left those figures in the dust during the highly competitive bidding.
Vickie Sek, director of jewelry and jadeite for Christie’s Asia, described the lively scene. “There were five telephone bidders from Hong Kong, Russia, Europe and the U.K. on the pink. During the bidding, all the clients in the room held their breath to wait for the hammer down, then they applauded.” The final price, with buyer’s premium: $23,165,968*, or $1,627,966 per carat, making this the most expensive jewel ever sold at auction in Asia. The stone was noteworthy for its shape: a clean-lined emerald cut that let the color speak for itself — loudly.
This well-edited sale — just 302 lots — brought in $78,904,265, soaring over the presale estimate of $45 million. It was propelled by a powerful top-ten list. Three additional lots were sold immediately following the close of the sale, adding nearly another $2 million to the day’s total.Six of the top lot jewels sold over the high estimates and eight were bought by Asian privates. While the pink was indeed the icing on the cake, the cake itself was very tasty and included a 12.29-carat DIF, type IIa pear-shaped diamond set in a lacy pink and white diamond necklace by Nirav Modi. The lot, shown on the catalog cover, was sold to an Asia private for $3,547,152. It was accompanied by a cornucopia of certificates, including 34 reports from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) covering the 34 fancy colored diamonds ranging from fancy intense pink, fancy deep pink, fancy vivid pink to fancy purplish pink, all certified as natural color, totaling 22.80 carats. The white diamonds totaled 86.90 carats.
The Asian market continues to absorb D flawless diamonds like so many beautiful twinkling stars, including a 16.72-carat DIF marquise cut, so plump as to be nearly an oval, set in a ring. The stone fetched $3,114,384, just under the high estimate. If one D flawless is good, then 39 of them set into a bracelet comprise an astonishing collection of perfection. The unsigned piece was set alternatively with pear-shaped and marquise-shaped diamonds, the largest weighing 4.02 carats, with a total weight of 45.73 carats. The bracelet was sold for $867,083.
It wasn’t all rosy at Christie’s Hong Kong; it was also yellow — Tiffany yellow to be precise. An oval-shaped, modified brilliant-cut fancy vivid yellow diamond, weighing 12.02 carats, was described in the report as an “exceptional example” of this color. If you can’t have the Tiffany diamond, the one permanently housed in a vitrine in the company’s Fifth Avenue store in New York City, you could have this one for $1,527,568, or $127,085 per carat.
Romancing the stones
Burma rubies figured prominently in the top ten lots. A Burma ruby weighing 7.04 carats, described as oval cut on the certificate but looking more like a cushion cut, set in a ring, soared over the presale estimate, selling for $2,970,128 or $421,893 per carat. The unusual size and extremely fine color of this stone made it a standout, justifying the strong price. A fine pair ofcushion-cut rubies weighing 5.02 and 4.24 carats, set within diamond frames as ear pendants, fetched $2,595,062, also above the high estimate. Any fine ruby above 5 carats is noteworthy and the color of these stones was remarkable for richness, evenness and intensity.
Blue sapphires starred in this sale as well, with Burma and Kashmir vying for top honors. A pair of cushion-cut Kashmir sapphires, extremely well matched at 8.74 and 8.65 carats, set as ear pendants, was sold for $2,032,464. The pair was suspended from two old mine diamonds, weighing a total of 7.51 carats, that echoed the size and shape of the sapphires. Another pair of cushion-cut sapphires, these weighing 17.25 and 15.09 carats, certified as Burmese and set with cushion-shaped diamonds, each weighing precisely 3.23 carats, was sold for $1,383,312, well above the presale high estimate.
Windsor in London
The day after Christie’s blockbuster Hong Kong sale, Sotheby’s was back with a 20-lot mini-auction of jewels originally from the collection of the Duchess of Windsor sale of 1987 and now being offered by a single owner who had acquired the items at that sale. The current event was described by Sotheby’s as a “white glove” sale, indicating that it was 100 percent sold. It almost doubled the presale high estimate, bringing in a total of $12,413,146. In 1987, the 305-lot sale achieved $71.7 million, still the highest total ever for a single-owner jewelry sale.
The hardbound catalog of the original sale, which was held at Sotheby’s Geneva, carried an elegant posed photo of the duchess taken by Cecil Beaton in 1937. The 2010 Sotheby’s sale, held in London, chose a humorous portrait of her, in a Dali-esque pose. The global nature of the auction market, even for such a narrowly focused sale, could be seen in the travel schedule of this event. Venues included Hong Kong and Moscow, as well as the usual stops in New York and Geneva. Asian interest was high, according to Quek Chin Yeow,
Sotheby’s jewelry department head in Hong Kong.
“Select Asian collectors were interested in the original auction back in 1987,with quite strong bidding at that time. Collectors are interested in the combination
of both Cartier designs and the provenance of the jewelry.” Interest from Asia included bidders from Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Mainland China.
The top lot — a Cartier bracelet — accounted for more than half the sale total, fetching $7,036,874. The onyx and diamond panther bracelet by Cartier, Paris, 1952, set a record both for any bracelet sold at auction, as well as a piece of Cartier jewelry sold at auction. It was lot #57 in the original sale and interestingly in both sales, was noted as having “several stones deficient.”
The multicolor ruby, sapphire, emerald, citrine and diamond flamingo brooch, made by Cartier, Paris in 1940, returned to the roost. It was bought back for the Cartier Collection for $2,678,954, well above the presale high estimate. This could easily have been called the Cartier-Duchess of Windsor sale. Eleven of the 20 lots were made by Cartier, comprising nearly all the jewelry on offer, and, except for a silver photograph frame, Cartier swept the top ten lots.
The staying power of the Windsor family was proven once again with the sale of items of purely historic interest, such as a silver medal struck to mark the Duke of Windsor’s visit to India in 1921-22. This lot nearly doubled the presale estimate, selling for $8,289. Could the engagement of another Windsor, Prince William, two weeks before the sale, have incited even more interest in this auction? The Windsor name, plus jewelry, is pure magic at auction.
*All prices include buyer’s premium.
* Pictured: Fancy intense pink, 14.23-carat, VVS2, rectangular-cut diamond, the top seller at Christie's Hong Kong, sold for $23,165,968
Article from the Rapaport Magazine - January 2011. To subscribe click here.