Exceptional Diamonds Keep Fetching High Prices at Auctions

A pair of pear-shaped D Flawless diamonds of 17.01 and 17.79 carats was sold on Thursday for $3,554,500 to a private buyer in New York. The duo, inscribed by Forevermark, are two out of about 50 high end polished diamonds that were sold in the past few weeks for good prices, despite the economic down turn.

The initial shock reaction that seemed to stunt purchases of high-end products - paintings, antiques, jewelry and diamonds - has largely dissipated, with top-end diamonds fetching at times even record breaking prices.

Just one day before above sale, the 35.56 carat grayish blue VS2 Wittelsbach Diamond sold at a Christie’s auction for $24.26 million breaking the record for an auctioned diamond. A few days before that, Christie’s magnificent jewels auction in Hong Kong sold only 63 percent of the lots, but total sales were 79 percent of the auction house’s estimates.

According to Rahul Kadakia, Christie’s Head of Jewelry, private buyers dominated the Thursday sale, acquiring all of the top ten lots.

How can these items, and a large number of other such diamonds, find buyers willing to pay $100,000 per carat and more at such times. Clearly, buyers with cash are seizing the unique opportunity to buy goods at a time when fewer bidders are around to push up prices. Dealers of large stones say the pair of D Flawless diamonds sold last week could have been sold for much more, at better times. Possibly twice as much.

Such diamond dealers are hard pressed for cash, and are willing to offer the goods for the chance to recover their costs.

Eighteen jewels sold for over $1 million at Christie’s New York in 2008, according to Kadakia.