Top Jewelry House Items to Highlight at Christie’s Magnificent Jewels Auction
October 05, 16
(IDEX Online) – Christie’s Magnificent Jewels auction on November 15 in Geneva will be led by pieces designed by Van Cleef & Arpels, Cartier, David Webb, Harry Winston, as well as Boehmer et Bassenge, the newly launched boutique Maison de Haute Joaillerie.
Christie’s is supporting this launch by offering at auction the first jewels ever designed by this house – a pair of stunning diamond earrings Miroir de l’amour, featuring the world’s largest pair of pear-shaped, D flawless diamonds with symmetrical cut which weigh 52.55 and 50.47 carats and have a pre-sale estimate of $20 million to $30 million.
The second jewel is a beautiful diamond necklace, Le Jardin d’Isabelle weighing a total of 140 carats of which the three central diamonds account for 51.56 carats - one round-cut diamond of 31.38 carats and two pear-shaped diamonds of 12.11 and 8.07 carats. All diamonds are D Flawless, with a total of 3.92 carats. Both of these lots will be offered without a reserve price, something unseen in the auction world for such important pieces of jewelry, Christie’s said in a statement.
Further exceptional diamonds will be part of the auction offering, including a Fancy Vivid Pink pear-shaped diamond of 9.14 carats, continuing the firm’s long tradition of presenting extraordinary jewels to the global market.
"In the realm of natural colored diamonds, those of a distinct pink hue are the most sought-after among gem connoisseurs. While most pink diamonds exhibit a color modifier like purple, orange, or brown, the 9.14 carat diamond to be offered at Christie’s shows absolutely no trace of a secondary color, making it exceedingly rare and attractive. The stone’s even color distribution, combined with a balanced saturation tone, and straight pink hue, qualify the 9.14 carat pink for the coveted ‘Fancy Vivid’ color grading from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). That only one in one hundred thousand diamonds possesses a color deep enough to qualify as ‘Fancy’ underscores its absolute rarity. In the Fancy Vivid pink range, diamonds of even five or six carats are rarely encountered in the sale room, making this nearly 10 carats stone even more special."
The Star of Sierra Leone VI is an exceptional D-color, VVS2 clarity, pear-shaped diamond weighing 21.69 carats and is estimated to realize between $1,400,000-$1,800,000.