Auctions

92-Carat Heart-Shaped Diamond Sells for $15M

AuctionsMay 18, 2017

92-Carat Heart-Shaped Diamond Sells for $15M

That was at the low end of its estimated range but still enough to set a new record for a heart-shaped diamond at auction.

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This 92-carat D flawless heart-shaped diamond sold Wednesday at Christie’s jewelry sale in Geneva. Suspended from a stand of cultured pearls by Boehmer et Bassenge, the stone garnered about $15 million, or $163,016 per carat.

Geneva--The “La Légende,” a 92-carat heart-shaped diamond suspended from a string of cultured pearls by Boehmer et Bassenge, sold for about $15 million Wednesday in Geneva.

The D color flawless diamond sold at the low end of its estimated range of $14-$20 million, but it was enough to set a new auction record for a heart-shaped diamond, Christie’s said.

The sale of La Légende capped off a five-day stretch of watch and jewelry auctions in Geneva that set a number of new records.
 
On Saturday, Phillips sold the “Bao Dai” Rolex in Geneva for $5 million, setting a new world record for a Rolex sold at auction.

Two days later, Christie’s Geneva sold another watch with an interesting historical provenance--a Patek Philippe Ref. 2497 that belonged to Haile Selassie, the former emperor of Ethiopia. Only of only two Ref. 2497 models with a black dial, the timepiece went for $2.9 million and set a new auction record for that particular reference.

Sotheby’s got into the auction action Tuesday when it brought the hammer down on “Apollo,” a 14.54-carat fancy vivid blue diamond, and “Artemis,” a 16-carat fancy intense pink, for a combined $57.4 million.

Sold as separate lots but bought by the same individual, the two actually were designed to be worn together as a mismatched pair of pears and now hold the world record for the most expensive earrings ever sold at auction.

And Tuesday and Wednesday saw Bonhams auction off the property, including the jewelry, of Jackie Collins in Los Angeles. All of the romance novelist’s possessions sold, with her jewelry taking in a little more than $2 million.

Michelle Graffis the editor-in-chief at National Jeweler, directing the publication’s coverage both online and in print.

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