Sotheby's Diamonds & Jewelry at Record $460.5 Million

(IDEX Online News) – High-end jewelry and diamonds are showing some resilience to the global economic slowdown, as reflected in Sotheby's 2012 sales results. The auction house sold a record $460.5 million worth of diamonds and jewelry during the last year.

The results are reassuring news for the diamond investment community, proving that even in tough times high diamonds are in strong demand.

According to a company report, 72 lots sold for more than $1 million, with six of those lots selling above $5 million. By lot Sotheby’s jewelry auctions sold a very strong average of 84 percent during the year.

It is usually the Hong Kong auctions that grab attention, but it was Sotheby’s Geneva that set a world auction record for any various-owner jewelry sale when its May auction totaled $108.4 million.

In November, Laurence Graff bought an exceptionally rare Fancy Deep blue, Flawless 10.48 carat diamond for $10.86 million. At $1,036,273 per carat (p/c), this was not only a world record per carat price for a Flawless Fancy Deep blue diamond, but it was also a world record price for a Briolette cut diamond at auction.

Another notable diamond was the 34.98 carat modified pear double rose cut Beau Sancy diamond, which fetched $9,699,618.

It seemed that time an again, records were broken at auctions. In April, a 3.54-carat Fancy Blue SI1 diamond sold for $2,434,500, a record price for a fancy blue diamond.

Private collections appear to be the source of high interest and high prices. Prominent private collections featuring jewels owned by Brooke Astor, Estée Lauder, Evelyn H. Lauder, Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, Suzanne Belperron, Michael Wellby and more captured buyers attention. Eager private buyers often fueled the high prices that traders usually preferred not to pay.