15.76-ct Bulgari Diamond Smashes Estimate
December 16, 24
(IDEX Online) - A 15.76-carat emerald-cut diamond and platinum Bulgari ring sold for $1.175m, well over double its pre-sale estimate ($300,000-500,000) at Doyle, New York.
The E color, VS1 clarity stone (pictured) came from the collection of prominent socialite and philanthropist Joanne B. Breyer, who married into the Breyers Ice Cream family and who died last August, aged 86.
The two-day, 243-lot auction raised a total of $8.78m, driven, in part Doyle said, by "ever-growing competition from private collectors at all levels of value".
The second highest price went to a 21.27-carat fancy intense yellow diamond, set with white diamonds in a platinum ring, also from the estate of Joanne B. Breyer. It sold for $572,000 (estimate $300,000 to $500,000).
The sale also included items from the collections of the late Carolyn Pesnell Amory, another prominent philanthropist and socialite, and the late Joanne duPont Foster, an arts patron and collector.