52-Carat Golconda Diamond Sells For $10.9 Million

A rare 52.58-carat D-color internally flawless Golconda diamond fetched $10.9 million at Wednesday’s Christie’s New York Magnificent Jewels auction.

Diamonds from the ancient Golconda mines in India are revered for their type, color and degree of transparency that is rarely duplicated.

In addition, a collection of Leviev diamond jewelry under the heading “Property of an Elegant Lady” was sold for $10.2 million, led by a 26.72-carat D color internally flawless diamond that sold for $4.3 million.

The 495-lot auction, the final jewelry sale of the year for the auction house, realized more than $65.7 million, with 86 percent sold by lot and 92 percent by value. The results of the December Sale in combination with the results achieved by the New York jewelry auctions in April and October, brings the 2013 New York Magnificent Jewels total to nearly $193.9 million.

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A Clock Made Up Of Clocks

I try to occasionally attend events and learn about things outside of what I regularly do in order to challenge and expand how I view the world. This is what brought me to Design Miami (December 4 – 8), which is held alongside Art Basel Miami Beach.

It is here that I discovered a most unusual clock. It was actually a clock made up of 60 interconnected mechanical clocks that create the time on a giant display that is similar to a digital watch. Each of the clocks’ minute hands perform a choreographed dance (for lack of a better word) before displaying the correct time.

This work was made by a Swedish design firm by the name of Humans since 1982 and is on display at Design Miami by the Victor Hunt Gallery based in Belgium.

It was developed with customized software controlled by an iPad. There were three versions of the clock on display by the gallery. A white version used 24 clocks and a black version that used 96 clocks. They range in price from 33,000 to 96,000 euro ($45,227 to $131,500). Below is a video of the clock in action.



Assistant Editor Maria Ling contributed to this story.

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Happy Thanksgiving

Okay I couldn’t find a bejeweled Turkey so you’ll just have to make do with this $100 million diamond peacock brooch from Graff Diamonds.

In myth and legend the peacock has long carried portents of nobility, guidance and good luck. Turkeys just taste good.

Thanksgiving is the official start of the holiday season so my gift-giving guides will be up as soon as I can find the time to put them together. Travel begins again in a few days. I’ll be attending Art Basel Miami Beach and Design Miami. It’s my first time attending these events so it will be like a treasure hunt to me. The rest of my time will be dedicated to the holidays.

Enjoy

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30% Increase in Customers at Treasures Hangzhou Jewelry Fair

The second edition of Treasures Hangzhou ended with a 30 percent increase in visitors, according to UBM Asia, who owns and operates the high-end jewelry show for consumers.

More than 1,200 high-net-worth consumers attended the three-day event at the Hyatt Regency Hangzhou, in eastern China near Shanghai.

“The increase in attendance numbers is certainly encouraging because it not only confirmed the strength of the high-end jewelry market in Eastern China, but also the healthy development of the Hangzhou Fair,” commented Joe Ho, UBM Asia’s Deputy Jewellery Fairs Manager for China.

Treasures Hangzhou is jointly organized by UBM China Holdings Limited, UBM China (Guangzhou) Co Ltd, the Jewelry Jade Industry Association of Zhejiang and Beijing San Arts Import & Export Co Ltd. 

The fair provides a platform where consumers can purchase jewelry and gemstones from suppliers from various parts of the world. It featured about 30 high-end jewelry exhibitors from five countries and regions, namely: China, Hong Kong region, Sri Lanka, Taiwan region and Thailand. The exhibitors brought with them jewelry, diamonds, gemstones, pearls and jadeite jewelry.

During the fair, professional seminars were to held on jadeite and high-end jewelry, which including jewelry investment opportunities.

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Benefit for Nicole Porto

I’ve known Nicole Porto for several years as the public relations representative for the Royal Asscher Diamond Company. She is a sweet person who does her job extremely well and who is far too young to have such a serious illness.

In June Nicole was diagnosed with aplastic anemia, a rare blood disorder. Since the illness was discovered she has undergone several blood transfusions and is scheduled for a bone-marrow transplant on December 6.

To help offset her medical expenses several of her many friends have set up the Nicole Porto Fund website where those who are interested can give a donation through PayPal.

In addition, friends of Nicole will hold a benefit on December 4 in New York at The Malt House on Thompson Street. It will include a jewelry sale, raffle and silent auction. The event admission is $25 that can be made at the website on in person at the event.

All of the proceeds from registration fees, silent auction and raffle tickets will go directly to Nicole's medical bills. Lita Asscher, Diana Widman and Lois Sasson are donating 35 percent of all jewelry sales to Nicole.

The raffle and silent auction prizes will include:

* Two free passes for flights anywhere in the U.S. on Virgin America Airlines!!
* Forty percent discount flight passes from Virgin America
* A 3-month membership to Equinox
* Dinner cooked by a professional chef
* Limited edition fine pens by Faber-Castell
* Nicole's favorite Diana Widman earrings
* A floating diamond necklace by Royal Asscher
* Fine jewelry donations by industry talent
* A summer weekend in a Vermont country house

More information and instructions about making donations and attending the event are on the website.

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Christie’s To Offer 52-Carat Golconda Diamond

Christie’s New York will be offering a 52.58-carat D-color internally flawless diamond from the fabled Golconda mine, revered for producing diamonds of a type, color, and degree of transparency that is rarely duplicated. It has a high estimate of $12.5 million.

The octagonal diamond with “superior polish” is the top attraction among 500 lots being offered at the December 10 Magnificent Jewels sale at Christie’s Rockefeller Center headquarters.

The auction is expected to achieve in excess of $45 million and will include jewels by several private collections, including four pieces of diamond jewelry created by the Leviev diamond company. The top item among the four pieces is a cushion-cut D-color internally flawless diamond ring of 26.72 carats mounted in platinum, flanked on either side by a shield-shaped diamond. It has a high estimate of $6 million.

In addition, there’s a diamond pendant necklace with a suspended 22.12-carat pear-shaped d-color, VVS1 diamond. The necklace has a high estimate of $3.5 million.

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Old is New Again as F.P. Journe Recreates Groundbreaking Tourbillon Watch

F.P. Journe Historical Anniversary Tourbillon.

François-Paul Journe was in Manhattan recently as part of a world tour celebrating his 30 years as the founder and head watchmaker of F.P. Journe. He also was in the city to introduce the Historical Anniversary Tourbillon, a recreation of the watch that began his career as an independent watchmaker.

The tourbillon movement

Journe was barely in his 20s when he set about making a complex watch entirely by hand. It took him five years to create the tourbillon pocket watch, which launched F.P. Journe. Thirty years later the independent watch company based in Geneva, Switzerland, is now an international brand with nine boutiques around the world, including Manhattan, where Journe made his appearance.

The original pocket watch created by François-Paul Journe 30 years ago.

The anniversary wristwatch, limited to 99 pieces, is a reinterpretation of the original pocket watch, using some of the same materials, such as a guilloche silver case enhanced by two gold bezels in rose gold 4N.

The transparent sapphire back reveals the tourbillon movement of classic construction made in grained and gilded brass, identical to the original of 1983. Two parallel barrels distribute energy to a wheels train, arranged in the axis of the watch, which runs the tourbillon revolving in a minute. The lateral pallet escapement, which is more compatible with a wristwatch, replaces the detent escapement of the original, and the winding and time setting with a key have now been replaced by the 3 o’clock crown.

Made today in the company’s Geneva workshops, the movement features high quality components with modern polishing, beveling and finishing techniques that weren’t available 30 years ago. It encompasses a sobriety and a nobility of first generation tourbillon movements.

The movement is protected by a silver guilloche case back cover. The dial in grained silver is engraved with filled roman numerals and a steel hour circle, identical to the original tourbillon of 1983. The hours are indicated by blued steel Abraham-Louis Breguet hands, identical to those of the original pocket watch.

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