No Buyers in Sight for Diamond and Emerald Glasses
November 02, 21
(IDEX Online) - Two pairs of unique jewel-encrusted glasses - one with emerald lenses, the other with diamonds - were withdrawn from sale by Sotheby's New York after both failed to reach their low estimate of $2.1m.
They are believed to have belonged to members of the Mughal Empire, which ruled over the Indian subcontinent during the 17th century.
There was surprise among experts, who had expected fierce bidding.
"I'm gutted these spectacles did not sell," Tobias Kormind, head of the online jeweler 77 Diamonds, told The Times. "I expected a high price from niche collectors."
Both pairs carried estimates of $2.1m to $3.5m.
The "Gate of Paradise" glasses (pictured) have lenses believed to have been cut from a Colombian emerald weighing over 300 carats.
The lenses in the "Halo of Light" spectacles, are thought to come from a single 200-carat diamond found in the famed Golconda region.
"As far as we know, there are no others like them," Edward Gibbs, chairman of Sotheby's Middle East and India, told CNN.
Cutting the lenses would have required "extraordinary technical skill and scientific mastery," he said.