“We
brought in $94 million, and most of the top lots were sold — excellent results
given the current market conditions,” said Vickie Sek, deputy chairman of
Christie’s Asia and director of the auction house’s jewelry and jadeite
department. The Hong Kong Magnificent Jewels sale, which took place on November
28, attracted 140 buyers from 12 countries across four continents, she added.
Pink diamonds were the undisputed highlight of
the sale. The top lot matched the current world auction price per carat for a
pink diamond: The Pink Promise sold for $2.1 million per carat for a total of
nearly $32.2 million, according to Sek, who called the stone “extraordinary for
its size and color” and said it was “certain to reach historic heights.”
The third and seventh lots were also in the
pink category: A rectangular, 8.80-carat, fancy intense pink went for $9.7
million, while a pear-shaped, 5.39-carat, fancy purplish-pink fetched nearly
$1.9 million. “In fact, all the pinks were sold, even the smaller ones,” Sek
reported.
The number-two lot of the
evening, a necklace with 29 graduated jadeite beads and a diamond and ruby
clasp, was highly contested and sold to an Asian private collector for $12.3
million, beating its pre-sale high estimate of $10.3 million.
“Jadeite still rules,” Sek
said. “The stellar performance by our two jadeite necklaces is a shining
example of jadeite’s strong and lasting appeal.” The second jadeite necklace in
question did not make the top 10, but was nonetheless highly contested.
Sapphires also featured strongly in the top
10. The fourth lot was an oval, 28.04-carat Padparadscha sapphire and diamond
ring, which sold for $2.5 million, and the fifth was a cushion-cut, 11.22-carat
Kashmir sapphire and diamond ring that garnered $2.3 million — both going to
Asian private collectors.
Emerald and ruby made appearances as well: The
sixth lot was a pair of antique emerald bangles that achieved just over $2
million, and the 10th lot was a pair of Burmese ruby bracelets that sold to an
Asian private collector for nearly $1.6 million.
The remaining two top lots,
both diamonds, fetched just over $1.6 million each: A pair of pear-shaped
diamond earrings weighing 12.85 and 12.79 carats, which went to a member of the
US trade, and a rectangular-cut, 9.05-carat, fancy vivid yellow, VVSI diamond, which
was purchased by an Asian private buyer.
The sale achieved $94.1
million in total. Of the 291 lots on offer, 213 were sold — 74% by lot and 76%
by value. By comparison, Christie’s spring sale in May brought in a total of
$79.8 million, and its autumn Hong Kong sale in November 2016 achieved a total
of $79.2 million.
Wallace
ChanA
collection of jewels by renowned Hong Kong jewelry artist Wallace Chan was also
part of the sale.
“Wallace Chan’s collection was
100% sold, which was beyond our expectations,” Sek said. “But we did expect it
to do extremely well. We ran a very comprehensive, multi-platform international
marketing campaign, which attracted strong interest from Asia and around the
world. A number of items doubled or tripled their estimates, and we were
extremely delighted.”
Article from the Rapaport Magazine - January 2018. To subscribe click here.