A pair of round diamonds and emerald ear pendants both set auction records at Christie’s Hong Kong Magnificent Jewels sale Tuesday.
The auction brought in $82.7 million, the most ever for a jewelry auction in Hong Kong, said said Vickie Sek, director of Christie’s Asia Jewellery and Jadeite Department. Fine colored stones and natural pearls “fetched extremely strong prices.”
A total of 241 of the 310 offered were sold (78 percent) and 79 percent were sold by price.
A pair of near identical round diamonds (top picture) combined for the two top lots of the sale. A 35.77-carat D flawless type IIa brilliant-cut diamond fetched $8.27 million ($231,000 per carat). A 35.61-carat D flawless type IIa brilliant-cut diamond sold for $8.1 million ($228,000 per carat). The combined $16.4 million achieved for the two diamonds was the highest price ever for colorless diamonds in Asia, Sek said.
In addition, a pair of 25.38- and 23.12-carat cushion-shaped Columbian ear pendants (pictured above) fetched more than $4 million ($83,000 per carat), a world record for emerald-cut earrings.
Other big sales include the following:
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| A 26.41-carat cushion-shaped Kashmir sapphire and diamond brooch fetched more than $3.8 million, or $145,000 per carat. |
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| A 52.12-ct. Burmese ruby and diamond cluster necklace by JW Currens that sold for more than $3.7 million. |
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| A natural colored pearl and diamond bead necklace that sold for $3.1 million. |
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| A 43.26-carat, cushion-shaped fancy vivid yellow diamond ring that sold for $2.64 million, or $61,000 per carat. |