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| 25.87-carat Kashmir sugarloaf cabochon sapphire |
A 25.87-carat sugarloaf cabochon sapphire with Kashmir origins sold for $5.1 million at Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels sale in New York. The gem set an auction record for a price per carat of a sugarloaf cabochon Kashmir sapphire at $197,990 per carat.
The gem, housed in a platinum and diamond ring, is owned by the family of Thomas Fortune Ryan (1851-1928), an American tobacco, insurance and transportation magnate. It surpassed its high estimate of $4.5 million and was the top lot of the auction held Wednesday.
The second highest lot of the evening sale was an historically significant platinum and diamond necklace owned by Egypt’s royal family (pictured above). Van Cleef & Arpels created the jewel with 217 carats of diamonds in 1939.
The necklace sold for nearly $4.3 million, within its estimate.
Queen Nazli (1894-1978), mother of Egypt’s King Farouk commissioned the diamond necklace and a matching tiara for the wedding ceremony of her daughter, Princess Fawzia, to the Crown Prince of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, in 1939, Sotheby’s said. A large part of Nazli’s jewelry collection, including her Van Cleef & Arpels diamond necklace and tiara, was sold by Sotheby Parke Bernet in New York in November 1975. The necklace remained in a private collection for 40 years and was sold for the benefit of a charitable foundation.
The other big sale for the evening was a platinum and diamond ring set with a 38.27-carat square emerald-cut diamond with D color and VVS2 (pictured above). It sold for just over $4 million, within its estimate.
The three top lots were among eight that fetched at least $1 million. Sotheby’s auction of 503 lots was the final jewelry sale of 2015 by the auction house for 2015. It achieved a total of $52.3 million total, 74.2 percent were sold by lot and 74.4 percent by value. This raised the company’s annual worldwide sales of jewelry to $571 million. Other jewels of note include:
* A 26.44-carat emerald-cut diamond of D color and VS2 clarity sold for just over $2 million, or $77,534 per carat.
* A fancy colored diamond and diamond brooch by Bulgari, 1964, with a 2.47-carat round-cornered square modified brilliant-cut Fancy Intense blue diamond of VS2 clarity, sold for more than $1.7 million, well above its high estimate of $700,000.
* A natural pearl and a 30.83-carat Colombian emerald and diamond pendant sold for nearly $1.3 million, well above its $1 million high estimate.
* An 11.51-carat emerald-cut diamond ring of D color and VS1 clarity sold for nearly $1.1 million, above its $700,000 high estimate ($94,700 per carat).
* A 15.04-carat cushion-cut diamond ring, of D color, VS2 clarity sold for $1 million, beating its high estimate of $900,000 ($66,489 per carat).
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