Friday, September 27, 2013

Pink Star!

Huge "Pink Star" diamond could fetch $60m at auction

Sep. 26, 2013 at 12:07 PM ET
"The Pink Star", an internally flawless oval-cut vivid pink diamond, will become the most valuable diamond ever to be offered at auction, Sotheby's sa...
FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP - Getty Images
"The Pink Star,"an internally flawless oval-cut vivid pink diamond, will become the most valuable diamond ever to be offered at auction, Sotheby's said. It is expected to fetch $60 million at a Nov 13 sale in Switzerland.
A rare pink diamond, described as "full of fire and light," and one of the earth's "greatest natural treasures," could fetch a record of more than $60 million at auction in November, Sotheby's said.
The "Pink Star", which weighs a whopping 59.60 carats, is the most valuable diamond offered at auction, said the auction house.
The oval stone with the top grading of vivid pink was put on display amid tight security at a luxury hotel in Geneva, Switzerland on Wednesday. 
"It is full of fire and light. If it sells it will be a record price for any gemstone so far at auction," David Bennett, chairman of Sotheby's jewelry division in Europe and the Middle East, told Reuters in Geneva, where it will be the star lot of the Nov. 13 sale. 
"The top end in all categories in auction prices are very, very strong. People are seeking the very rare, the exceptional, the outstanding. This stone is," he said. 
The current record is held by the "Graff Pink", a 24.78 carat fancy intense pink diamond bought by Laurence Graff, the London-based jeweller known as "The King of Diamonds", at a 2010 auction for 45.44 million Swiss francs ($45.75 million then). 
The "Pink Star" was cut and polished from a 132.5 carat rough diamond mined by De Beers somewhere in Africa in 1999, according to Sotheby's, which said it had no information on the exact geographic origin. 
The stone, mounted on a ring, was first sold in 2007 and the current owner remains anonymous, a Sotheby's spokeswoman said. 
Bennett said the vivid pink diamond is "of immense importance" because of its extraordinary size and exceptionally rich color that surpass all others known to exist in government, royal or private collections.
It is "simply off any scale, and passes, I believe, into the ranks of the earth's greatest natural treasures."
Eric Valdieu, a former Christie's jewel expert now of Valdieu Fine Arts, recalls seeing the "Pink Star" displayed at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington in 2003. 
"The buyers of a stone like this are very few, international fortunes in Latin America, Asia or the Middle East," he said. 
Rival auction house Christie's is offering three jewels from the collection of Bolivian tycoon Simon Itturi Patino among the pieces going under the hammer at its Geneva sale on Nov. 12. 
The pieces, including a 1930s emerald and diamond necklace by French jeweller Cartier estimated at $7 million to $10 million, feature rare gems and embody the taste of "The King of Tin" who founded the family dynasty, the private auction house owned by French billionaire Francois Pinault said in a statement.
"The Patino family had extraordinary things, objects which dealers and private collectors will go after with gusto," Valdieu said.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report)

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters.

Sunday, September 22, 2013

I want them all!

Rare Pink, Blue, Yellow Diamonds Highlight Christie’s Auction

By Rob Bates, Senior Editor
Posted on September 9, 2013
Printer-friendly versionsend to friend
POST A COMMENT
An 8.77 ct. fancy intense pink diamond, a 3.81 ct. fancy vivid blue, and a 5.13 ct. fancy vivid yellow will highlight the Oct. 15 Christie’s Magnificent Jewels auction in New York City.
The 5.13 carat square-cut fancy vivid yellow diamond carries a $200,000 to $300,000 estimated price tag. The 8.77 ct. rectangular cut fancy intense pink ring is projected to go for $5.5 million to $6.5 million. And the 3.81 ct. cushion-cut fancy vivid blue diamond ring is expected to fetch $2.5 million to $3 million.
Photo courtesy of Christie's
Other notable diamonds in the sale:
  • A 25.3 ct. D-color diamond ring, with a $2.4 million to $3 million estimate.
  • An 18.8 ct. D-color diamond ring with a $1.7 million to $2 million estimate.
  • A 9.52 ct. D-color diamond ring, with internally flawless clarity, with an $850,000 to $1.05 million estimate.
The sale will also feature David Webb pieces from the collection of Newport, R.I., socialite Noreen Stonor Drexel. 
To receive the latest jewelry news and blogs every day, subscribe to JCK’s e-newsletter here.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Ohhh La La...


Auctioneer shows off 118-carat diamond in NYC

  • Dislike
A 118-carat white diamond is on display at Sotheby's, a New York auction house, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2013 in New York. The oval stone will be auctioned off in Hong Kong on Oct. 7 and has a pre-sale estimate of $28 million to $35 million. The current record for any white diamond is $26.7 million. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
.
View gallery
  • .
  • .
  • .
Associated Press 
NEW YORK (AP) — A New York auction house is showing off what it calls the world's greatest white diamond on the block — a 118-carat stone from Africa the size of a small egg.
The oval diamond glistened in its glass case Wednesday at Sotheby's Manhattan headquarters, not yet mounted after it was mined and cut two years ago. It will be auctioned in Hong Kong on Oct. 7 and has a pre-sale estimate of $28 million to $35 million.
In terms of size, quality, polish and color, "this is the greatest white diamond we've ever had the privilege to sell," said Quek Chin Yeow, deputy chairman of Sotheby's Asia and an international diamond expert.
The stone was discovered in 2011 as a 299-carat rough diamond in a southern African country whose name Sotheby's declined to disclose.
When asked why they could not give the exact source, auction house officials said the owner wishes to remain anonymous and that was the agreement.
The current record for any white diamond is $26.7 million. That pear-shaped stone was over 101 carats. It was sold at Christie's in Geneva last spring.
Three other white diamonds over 100 carats were auctioned by Sotheby's — in 1990, 1993 and 1995.
The white stone is part of a lineup of jewels up for auction that also includes a flawless, round, vivid blue diamond, worth an estimated $19 million at 7.6 carats.
It's the largest, most significant such diamond graded by the Gemological Institute of America.
The reason these stones are going on the block in Hong Kong, Quek said, is that it has become a center for jewelry sales and it's there that the $1.7 million record price per carat for vivid blue diamonds was set — with the sale of a 6-carat blue diamond for $10.2 million in 2011.
Blue diamonds — more rare than white ones — are from the same color family as the famed Hope Diamond, though a different hue. The Hope Diamond, which belongs to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, is not for sale.
  • View Comments (110)