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RAPAPORT... Sotheby's New York sale of important jewels this week garnered $10,535,820 and was 78 percent sold by lot. The top lot was a diamond ring of 6.46 carats, E, SI1, type IIa and set in platinum that sold to an anonymous buyer for $560,500 or $86,765 per carat, soaring well past its presale high estimate of $150,000. The second and third top lots also achieved sales prices well above estimate with a 0.51 carat, VS2 fancy, vivid purplish pink diamond ring by Tiffany & Co. selling for $338,500 and a platinum and diamond bow brooch (pictured) by Van Cleef & Arpels being sold for $332,500.  Other highlights included a 10.04-carat, E, SI1 pear-shaped diamond ring that sold within estimate at $314,500 and a Burmese ruby of 3.96 carats and diamond ring, signed by J.E. Caldwell, that sold for $290,500 against a presale high estimate of $200,000. Gary Schuler, the head of Sotheby’s jewelry department in New York, observed that the sale demonstrated the market’s continued appetite for exceptional diamonds. Lisa Hubbard, the chairman of North & South America at Sotheby’s jewelry division, added, “We again were honored to present a selection jewels from the collections of Estée Lauder and Evelyn H. Lauder in today’s sale, sold to benefit The Breast Cancer Research Foundation® that Evelyn founded in 1993. The pieces on offer today exceeded their overall high estimate and join the jewels sold last December for a combined total of $22.8 million.”
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