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34ct. Yellow Diamond Sells for $520K
Feb 21, 2019 7:37 AM
By Rapaport News
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RAPAPORT... A yellow diamond ring that once belonged to the royal family
of Hawaii sold for $519,500 at auction Sunday.
The old-mine-cut, 34.28-carat, fancy-light-yellow,
VS2-clarity diamond ring, set in platinum and white gold, was the lead item at
the Clars Auction Gallery sale in Oakland, California. It realized $15,155 per
carat, according to Rapaport calculations. 
The piece — with a high presale estimate of $600,000 — was
originally bought by Hawaiian King Kalakaua for his wife, Queen Kapiolani, to
wear to Queen Victoria’s Jubilee celebrations in England in 1887. In late 1890,
the king traveled to San Francisco, where he used the ring as collateral for a
gambling loan from Crocker Bank.
Kalakaua died during the trip, having never returned for the
ring. Crocker Bank sold it to a Texas gem dealer at the turn of the century. In
1950, Frank Spenger, owner of the famous Spenger’s Fresh Fish Grotto in
California, purchased the ring, which he displayed in a special case at the
restaurant’s Diamond Bar until October 2018, when it closed after 128 years in business.
The yellow diamond was sold as part of the Spenger
Collection auction, along with other items, including fine art, furniture and
historical items.
Image: The 34.28-carat yellow-diamond ring (top); King Kalakaua of Hawaii (right). (Clars Auction Gallery)
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Tags:
Clars Auction Gallery, Frank Spenger, Hawaiian King Kalakaua, Queen Kapiolani, Queen Victoria’s Jubilee Celebration, Rapaport News, Spenger Collection, Spenger’s Fresh Fish Grotto
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