Magnificent Jewels

Christie’s New York saw a stellar finale to its fall auction season on December 10, with a blockbuster 300-lot sale of Magnificent Jewels at its flagship Rockefeller Plaza saleroom.  The day-long sale realized a total of US$32,541,625 (£20,175,808/ €25,057,051) with strong sell-through rates of 84% by lot and 86% by value. This sale result, combined with robust results achieved for Christie’s New York jewels auctions in April, June and October, brings the 2012 New York jewelry auction total to over US$163 million.

The top lot of the December 10 sale was a rectangular-cut, D-color, potentially flawless diamond ring of 50.01 carats by Graff. Estimated at $7-10 million, the ring fetched US$8,370,500 (£5,189,710/ €6,445,285) or US$167,400 per carat.  The buyer of the stone was Laurence Graff.

For the year in New York, Christie’s sold 29 jewels over the $1 million mark, of which 4 jewels achieved over $7 million. In April, Christie’s garnered headlines worldwide with the highly successful sale of the jewelry collection from the estate of the reclusive American copper heiress Huguette M. Clark. The collection, comprised of 17 exceptional jewels from the Art Deco period, realized $20.8 million and saw a new U.S. auction record achieved for The Clark Pink, the most expensive pink diamond ever sold at auction in the United States.

Rahul Kadakia, Head of Jewelry, Christie’s Americas and Switzerland, commented: “A D color diamond of 50.01 carats last sold by Christie’s New York in 2005 and purchased by Laurence Graff for $4.2 million has once again been purchased by Mr. Graff for $8.4 million, demonstrating the increasing strength and stability of the global diamond market. Over $163 million of superb jewels sold under our gavel this year at Christie’s New York, with new and established collectors competing at the very highest levels.”