Recapping Christie’s Hong Kong Magnificent Jewels Sale

Jun 8, 2017 | Uncategorized

For those interested in being up to date on grand auctions, the Christies Hong Kong Magnificent Jewels Sale took place last Tuesday, May 30, 2017. Gathering an approximate $80 million, the spring sale was held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center’s Convention Hall and featured a total of 279 lots including colored and colorless diamond, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, pearls, and much more.

magnificent jewels

Despite this year’s spring sale not being the most successful in Christies’ Auction history with 193/279 lots being sold, there still were a plethora of beautiful and elegant pieces presented. Three lots in particular really stood out, and in our opinion, were worth sharing. 

 

Moussaieff Fancy Vivid Blue Ring

moussaieff blueSource

It goes without saying that the top selling lot would be number 1 on our list; a 3.98 carat, brilliant rectangular cut, Fancy Vivid Blue diamond graded with a VVS2 clarity. The stone itself is embedded in a size 5 pink gold ring and is surrounded by 4 rectangular, and 10 cushion cut pink diamonds. Further, the upper half of the ring’s hoop is adorned with baguette cut pink diamonds. While the pink diamonds have not thoroughly been tested for bearing a natural color, this piece of art managed to sell for a respectable $8.8 million (surpassing its low pre-auction estimate of $8.26 million).

 

The Magnificent Palmette Necklace

The Magnificent Palmette NecklaceSource

Despite not featuring any colored diamonds, the Edmond “Palmette” necklace needed to be on our list. This piece of art consists of 11 palmette motifs with circular cut emerald details. Each piece is set in the center of a rectangular cut emerald, alternating between colorless diamond foliate links that extend to the back-chain of the necklace. Each emerald piece weighs approximately 3.03 to 12.34 carats. Finally, each stone of this 43cm piece is harmoniously mounted in gold. This yielded a remarkable price tag of approximately $6 million, setting a world record for most expensive no-oil Colombian emeralds ever sold at an auction.

 

A Charming Pair of Pink Diamond Earrings

pink diamondsSource

The final piece on our list is lot 2074 which held a beautiful pair of pink diamond earrings. This piece consisted of 2 beautiful 4.01 and 4.64 carat, brilliant oval cut, Fancy Purplish Pink Diamonds given a VVS2 and VS1 clarity grading respectively. These stones were set in 2 elegant 2.5cm white gold earrings and were surrounded by pear and marquise cut colorless diamonds. The lot ultimately realized a $3.4 million price tag (almost reaching its high pre-auction estimate of $3.8 million).

While we wanted to keep our list short, we could not help but include some honorable mentions that managed to make it into the top 10 sold lots of the auction:

  • A beautiful pair of earrings holding a magnificent Kashmir Sapphire and a D-color IF rated colorless diamond weighing 16.23 and 10.93 carats respectively. This piece managed to topple $3.1 million
  • Etcetera’s hexagonal cut, 3.37 carat, Fancy Intense Blue Ring that sold for $2.8 million
  • Cartier’s pear cut, 13.77 carat D-color diamond ring fetching $2.09 million

Which were your top picks and why? Share your thoughts on Facebook, Twitter, or the comments below.


For more reading on colored diamonds, see the links below:

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