Auctions

3.81-Ct. Blue Diamond Kicks Off Fall for Bonhams London

AuctionsAug 29, 2016

3.81-Ct. Blue Diamond Kicks Off Fall for Bonhams London

The oval-cut fancy intense blue diamond could sell for as much as $2.4 million at the auction house’s upcoming Fine Jewellery sale.

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This 3.81-carat oval-cut fancy intense blue diamond is expected to be the top lot at Bonhams’ Sept. 20 Fine Jewellery sale in London.

London--When Bonhams London kicks off its autumn auction season next month, it will do so with a number of high quality blue stones.

Leading the Fine Jewellery sale, which is scheduled for Sept. 20, will be an oval-cut 3.81-carat fancy intense blue diamond. Coming from a private British collection, the stone is expected to sell for $1.7 million to $2.4 million.

Bonhams currently holds the price-per-carat world auction records for both a fancy deep blue diamond ($1.77 million per carat) and a fancy grayish-blue diamond ($730,000 per carat).

Also topping the London sale is a pair of earrings featuring cushion-shaped Kashmir sapphires weighing just under 9 carats surrounded by old brilliant-cut diamonds. The earrings are expected to garner as much as $790,000.

An 11-carat marquise-cut diamond set in a six-claw ring and a 13.77-carat brilliant-cut diamond ring from J. Roca both have a pre-sale high of $330,000.

Other lots expected to top the sale include a pair of sapphire and old brilliant-cut diamond earrings ($200,000 to $260,000) and a necklace and earrings suite featuring cabochon rubies and diamonds. It could garner between approximately $130,000 and $200,000.



Additional highlights include an 18.77-carat oval-cut Sri Lanka sapphire ring with a brilliant-cut diamond border and pave-set diamond shoulders, estimated to garner as much as approximately $110,000.

A 12.50-carat Colombian emerald and diamond cluster ring circa 1960 also will go up on the block at the auction house’s New Bond Street salesroom next month, with a pre-sale estimate high of $53,000, as will diamond pendent earrings circa 1830 weighing 3.02 and 3.25 carats, E and F in color and Type IIa clarity. They have a pre-sale range of $40,000 to $53,000.

Bonhams’ London jewelry sale also will include signed pieces from Harry Winston, Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Tiffany & Co., Chaumet, Boucheron and Hemmerle.

The full list of items to be auctioned at the upcoming sale, which has 125 total lots, can be found on Bonhams.com.
Brecken Branstratoris the senior editor, gemstones at National Jeweler, covering sourcing, pricing and other developments in the colored stone sector.

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