de GRISOGONO necklace sets record for flawless D-colour diamond
By David Brough
GENEVA, November 16, 2017 – The Art of de GRISOGONO, Creation 1, an emerald and diamond necklace set with a rectangular cut diamond of 163.41 carats, set a world record for a flawless D-colour diamond sold at auction, fetching $33.7 million at Christie’s Magnificent Jewels sale in Geneva on November 14.
At the Sotheby’s Geneva sale on November 15, a new world auction record for a fancy light pink diamond was set when a 33.63 carat fancy light pink diamond, mounted as a ring by Harry Winston around 1970, sold for $12.8 million.“I am delighted to have set a new auction record this evening for a fancy light pink diamond, exactly one year after the previous record, set here at Sotheby’s in Geneva,” said David Bennett, worldwide chairman of Sotheby’s international jewellery division.
“This is an exceptionally elegant stone, whose noble provenance also enhanced its value.”
Three highlight pieces offered at the Sotheby’s sale failed to sell during the auction: the 37.30-carat Raj Pink, the Donnersmarck diamonds (two magnificent and historic fancy intense yellow diamonds), and a Moussaieff ring featuring a fancy vivid blue diamond weighing 7.41 carats.At Christie’s the de GRISOGONO necklace, featuring the largest diamond to be found in Angola, attracted a frenzy of bidding at the Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues before the hammer went down on a telephone bidder, who wished to remain unidentified.
“I was a bit nervous before the auction. It’s a fantastic result,” Fawaz Gruosi, founder and creative director of de GRISOGONO, told reporters after the sale.
Rahul Kadakia, the Christie’s auctioneer who led the sale, said that the auction spanning more than 500 lots had achieved strong prices throughout the day, culminating in USD$144.9 million for Christie’s Geneva jewellery sales in November.
Referring to the Art of de GRISOGONO, the star lot, Kadakia said, “It is a very healthy result. At around USD$200,000 per carat, it is in line with where the market should be for a stone of this quality and size.”
Other highlights of the sale included LE GRAND MAZARIN, a light pink diamond of 19.07 carats, a gemstone of royal French provenance, which was the final lot of the auction and sold for USD$14.5 million.
LE GRAND MAZARIN has been in the collection of four kings, four queens, two emperors and two empresses. This was the first time that the diamond has been sold at public auction since the sale of the French Crown Jewels in 1887, Christie’s said.
Another Christie’s sale on November 13 saw a world record price for any Art Nouveau jewel sold at auction, a pendent necklace by René Lalique, which sold for USD$978,480, setting a new world auction record for any piece of Art Nouveau jewellery as well as for a piece of jewellery by René Lalique.
