Presale estimates scattered like rice at a wedding at Sotheby’s April 7 auction of Jewels and Jadeite. The sale, expected to bring in about $40 million, soared to $52,408,045, a new high for the firm at a Hong Kong jewelry auction. Of the 329 lots offered, 75.1 percent, or 247 lots, sold and 84.1 percent of the offerings sold by value.
Leading the charge was an impressive diamond rivière necklace set with 50 D-color, internally flawless white diamonds, totaling 107.43 carats. The necklace was sold to a private Hong Kong customer for $6,689,744,* well over the high estimate of $5.1 million. The necklace was a prime example of the Asian customers’ search for “perfection and rarity,” according to Quek Chin Yeow, head of Sotheby’s Hong Kong jewelry department.
Also commanding an impressive price over estimate was a 5.16-carat, pear-shaped, IF, fancy vivid blue diamond. The first of the 12-diamond De Beers Millennium Jewels Collection to be sold at auction, it is also the smallest; the 203.04-carat Millennium Star is the largest. All of the diamonds were cut and polished by the Steinmetz Diamond Group. The diamond, set in a ring, was sold to the famed Moussaieff of London Jewelers for $6,402,564. The blue diamond, described as having high and even saturation of color, soared over its presale estimate of $4.6 million to $5.9 million.
Global Appeal
Quek said the two lots were hotly contested, describing the bidding as “swift for both top lots, with at least four bidders for each of the lots.” Active bidders were in the room as well as on the telephones, and the race went to not only the swiftest but to those with the deepest pockets. Some bidders were priced out in a flash, not able to raise their paddles quickly enough, “as the bids raced by their prepared limits very quickly, especially for the cover lot, the diamond necklace,” adds Quek. This “best of the best” necklace attracted bidders from throughout Asia. Although the blue diamond eventually went to the London trade, Asian collectors were competing seriously for the gem.
“Some major clients had flown into Hong Kong specially for these top lots,” explains Quek. “The sale ran late as there was multiple bidding for a greater part of the lots offered.” Bidding came particularly from Asian clients in Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Indonesia. There was increased Chinese presence both on the telephones and in the sale room, Quek notes, which parallels the rise in spending on consumer goods in China’s rapidly growing economy, poised to be the largest in the world.
Extreme ValueConfident that this market could absorb multiple examples of extremely valuable jewelry, Quek included four lots estimated to bring more than $4 million each. And in fact, they all sold over that amount. In addition to the top necklace and blue diamond lots, there was an exceptional jadeite and diamond necklace that fetched $5,541,026, as well as a 33.31-carat, pear-shaped, DIF diamond set as a pendant that was sold to a Southeast Asian private customer for $4,535,897.
Asian clients began to make their mark in the jewelry auction world long before the Hong Kong sales emerged as a major venue. Asians were bidding and buying in Geneva and New York, and are still important buyers in those sales. “Asian collectors have become more competitive,” Quek notes, “witness their presence in the ‘Top Ten’ lists in Sotheby’s November Geneva and December New York jewelry sales.” But the growth of the Hong Kong auctions has allowed Asians to buy locally, in their own culture and with department heads such as Quek readily available to guide them through the unique process of buying at auction.
The China market, Quek says, “is perhaps in the earlier stages of acquiring important diamonds, gemstones and jewelry, particularly at auction, very much like the Chinese presence in the market of Chinese works of art. But their entrance, although more recent, has gained great momentum in a much shorter time frame than in previous collecting cycles elsewhere in the world.”
A Hong Kong private customer paid $2,453,846 for an extraordinary pair of briolettes weighing 10.40 and 10.28 carats, DIF, bordered within delicate diamond mounts, each suspended from a pear shape and three round diamonds. The extremely well-matched pair was one of the “premium lots” in the sale, indicated in the catalog by a tiny outline of a paddle. Buyers who were interested in bidding on these lots had to provide specific banking/credit information to the auction house in advance of the sale.
Another featured lot was a round DIF diamond weighing 8.24 carats, which sold to an Asian private for $1,391,282, well over the high estimate of $1,050,000. According to Quek, it was the highest price per carat ever paid at auction for a white diamond under 10 carats.
Although the sale was very successful in dollar terms, 82 lots remained unsold. One of the lots that failed to find a buyer was an extremely rare, 2-carat, heart-shaped, fancy vivid orange diamond set in a ring, estimated to bring $900,000 to $1,000,000.
Beyond sating the appetite for diamonds, the sale offered exquisite period jewelry, including an Art Nouveau plique-à-jour enamel, peridot and diamond necklace, circa 1900. The delicate and exquisite necklace soared over the high estimate of $20,500 to sell for $35,750.
The strength of this sale, the first of the season, stirs many emotions in the jewelry world. It sets a very high bar for the sales to follow at Sotheby’s in New York and Geneva, and back again to Hong Kong for Christie’s sale on June 1. It also makes one wonder if the Asian miracle can be repeated in other venues.
* All prices include buyer’s premium.
Article from the Rapaport Magazine - May 2010. To subscribe click here.