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Piece of the Week: Cartier’s Ring-Tailed Lemur
This little guy’s name is Ricky and he just sold for more than $200,000 at Sotheby’s Geneva jewelry auction.
Truth be told, the National Jeweler editors spent most of this week thinking that “Ricky,” the name given to the gem-set creature you see above, was a raccoon after spotting him among the lots in Sotheby’s Geneva jewelry auction.
But, as it turns out, Ricky is not a raccoon; he is a ring-tailed lemur, an animal native to Madagascar.
While ring-tailed lemurs in the wild are actually members of the order of mammals known as primates, this tame version is all Cartier.
Ricky is clutching a 10.92-carat cabochon cat’s eye chrysoberyl, and his stripes alternate between rows of pavé-set brilliant-cut diamonds and smooth strips of polished onyx. His eyes are brilliant-cut diamonds with a yellow tint.
Created around 1991 and up for auction for the first time, Sotheby’s estimated Ricky would sell for as much as CHF 90,000 ($100,000).
In the end, a buyer paid CHF 190,500 ($210,238) to make Ricky part of their menagerie, more than double his highest pre-sale estimate.
We don’t blame them, as gems like this lemur don’t come around very often.
Related stories will be right here …
But, as it turns out, Ricky is not a raccoon; he is a ring-tailed lemur, an animal native to Madagascar.
While ring-tailed lemurs in the wild are actually members of the order of mammals known as primates, this tame version is all Cartier.
Ricky is clutching a 10.92-carat cabochon cat’s eye chrysoberyl, and his stripes alternate between rows of pavé-set brilliant-cut diamonds and smooth strips of polished onyx. His eyes are brilliant-cut diamonds with a yellow tint.
Created around 1991 and up for auction for the first time, Sotheby’s estimated Ricky would sell for as much as CHF 90,000 ($100,000).
In the end, a buyer paid CHF 190,500 ($210,238) to make Ricky part of their menagerie, more than double his highest pre-sale estimate.
We don’t blame them, as gems like this lemur don’t come around very often.
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