Lukewarm Prices for Diamonds at Sotheby's HK Auction

These Harry Winston earrings with four diamonds weighing 36.48 ct in total sold for $4.84 million. Many diamonds auctioned on Wednesday at Sotheby's HK sale sold at typical wholesale prices.

(IDEX Online News) - Sotheby's Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite auction in Hong Kong totaled $53.5 million, selling 78.4% of the offered lots. While the auction's total was Sotheby's second highest ever and a number of diamonds sold at multi-million dollar prices, per carat prices were near market wholesale prices, something that may have disappointed sellers.

The top selling item was a 25.50-carat loose brilliant-cut D / Flawless Type IIa diamond with excellent cut, polish and symmetry that sold for HK$39.86 million, which translates to US$ 5.13 million or US$201,177 p/c.

Another item was a pair of diamond pendent earrings by Harry Winston. The earring are set with a pear-shaped diamond weighing 14.42 and 14.04 carats respectively, each surmounted by an oval diamond weighing 4.01 carats all graded D / IF. The earrings sold for US$4.84 million.

Other examples include a Type IIa D / FL brilliant-cut diamond weighing 6.64 carats with excellent polish and symmetry that sold for $1.01 million, or US$152,108 p/c.

The prices are surprising considering the high prices that were achieved until now and may reflect a certain cooling in the market, or that traders, rather than private collectors, dominated the bidding.