Jewelry, Gems and Diamonds Doing Well At Auction

The Wittelsbach Blue was auctioned for $24.3 million

Comparing year-over-year sales figures for Christie's and Sotheby's reveals that both auction houses have suffered financially because of the recession. What is different is that both are seeing healthy positive sales figures from their jewelry, gem and diamonds sales that are at the very top end of anything on offer, according to a New York Times article.

In the article, global arts reporter Souren Melikian quotes David Bennet, chairman of Sotheby’s jewelry departments in Europe and the Middle East, saying, "it felt like being back in the good old days of the mid-1990s."

He starts this round of high sales figures with the Wittelsbach diamond sale in December 2008, fetching a record £16.39 million ($24.31 million).

The next sale sighted is the "Star of Josephine," a fancy vivid blue, weighing 7.03 carats., bringing in $9.48 million, just over $1.34 million a carat, making the diamond the most expensive stone per carat ever sold in any category. At the same Geneva auction, a rare fancy pink pear cut diamond weighing 5.29 carats, hit $2.04 million, or $385,633 per carat.

Also selling well were jewelry pieces that were either already collectible, or interpreted by the market as being collectable.

Tiaras necklaces and earrings all with documented ownership by European royalty at times almost quadrupled their estimates. For example, a pair of ear clips described as “the property of a German Princely and Liechtenstein Ruling Family,” did just that when it just barely missed sold for $420,000.

Another example of the heights collectible jewelry is reaching can be seen in a relatively newcomer to the market. A necklace of gold swan heads holding blue sodalite disks in their beaks, marked with the name of Lalaounis and dated to 1995 by its UK hallmark, was sold at $24,450, two and a half times the high estimate.

Because of the desire for collectible pieces, 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s stamped and marked pieces by famous designers are also doing well. A mystery set by Van Cleef & Arpels designed in the form of two intertwined leaves set with sapphires and diamonds hauled in $112,845, well over the expected price.