Colored gems, signed jewels and important collections took center stage at the Christie’s and Sotheby’s New York jewelry auctions during the first week of December 2020. Both live events took place once again without buyers present as auction houses continued to work around the spread of the coronavirus. As per state and city regulations, absentee bids were taken in advance, while specialists staffed the salesrooms during the live auctions to accept bids by phone and internet. Although the atmosphere in the salesrooms remained far from normal, both auctions saw above-average sell-through rates of more than 90%.
Christie’s: Starring sapphires
Sapphires were the focus of Christie’s Magnificent Jewels sale on December 8. Four of the top 10 lots consisted of blue sapphires, and the number-eight lot was a rare, 24.58-carat padparadscha sapphire from the du Pont family collection. It fetched $930,000, well above its high estimate.
The sale took an unusually long 10 hours to get through 380 lots. It achieved nearly $44.6 million, selling 91% by lot and 95% by value.
“Colored stones — particularly sapphires — as well as signed jewels and private collections performed extremely well,” said Daphne Lingon, head of Jewels for Christie’s Americas. “Christie’s continues to offer clients exceptional gemstones, and this sale included three important Kashmir sapphires of 43.10, 21.73 and 12.64 carats, as well as numerous Burma and Ceylon stones.”
The 43.10-carat stone — an unheated Kashmir sapphire with no clarity enhancement — was part of a platinum bracelet that took the title of top lot. Harry Winston purchased the piece for more than $6 million — and even though the description didn’t mention it, the New York-based jeweler was also the bracelet’s creator, said Benjamin Goldberg of diamond jewelry house William Goldberg. He also noted that the price had benefitted greatly from the 67.90 carats of diamonds the piece held, the majority being D-color and internally flawless.
“It was nice to see a Harry Winston piece purchased by Harry Winston,” Goldberg said.
There were several diamonds of note in the sale, he continued. Among them was a cushion brilliant-cut, 8-carat, D, internally flawless gem that sold for $687,500. Another was an oval modified brilliant-cut, 10.59-carat, VVS2 diamond on a Harry Winston platinum ring. Hailing from the collection of Barbara de Kwiatkowski — a model, journalist and socialite who was perhaps best known as an associate of artist Andy Warhol— it sold within estimates at $600,000.
Goldberg was puzzled as to why the 8-carat stone, which he said would need to be recut, had fetched about $86,000 per carat, while the 10.59-carat gem with ownership provenance and Harry Winston’s name had gone for only about $56,000 per carat. “Whoever bought that 10-carat stone was a very smart buyer.”
Goldberg was also impressed with a cushion modified brilliant-cut, 102.61-carat, VS2 diamond with Y to Z color that netted approximately $1.7 million, well above its high estimate. With a proper cut, he suggested, it could be sold as a fancy-light-yellow diamond.
Signed jewels from many periods and jewelry houses performed nicely. Cartier had the strongest showing, with 35 lots selling. Among them were three Panthère pieces from the estate of collector Mireille Lévy that caught the attention of Greg Kwiat, CEO of diamond jeweler Kwiat and of estate jeweler Fred Leighton. “All of them exceeded estimates and demonstrate the power of iconic designs from the world’s best jewelers,” he declared.
Fifteen art objects by avant-garde contemporary artist Daniel Brush — all from a single collection — found buyers as well, with 11 beating estimates.
“The collection of objects by Daniel Brush performed very well and drew collectors from around the globe, as it was the most important group of his works to come to auction in recent history,” Lingon said. “We continue to see strong demand for signed jewels, and the market has remained as buoyant as ever.”
Sotheby’s: Fancy collections
With several high-quality fancy-colored diamonds at the December 9 Magnificent Jewels sale, it may have been surprising to some that an emerald was the top lot. However, this gem had a trilogy of benefits, explained Quig Bruning, head of jewelry at Sotheby’s New York. It was an exceptional square emerald-cut Colombian gem of 21.86 carats; it was mounted on a Cartier ring of 18-karat gold and flanked by diamonds; and it was from the collection of Cecile Zilkha, a New York socialite known for her style. It sold for nearly $3.7 million, more than triple its high estimate.
“It checked every box,” Bruning said. “It came from a great collection, it was a Cartier signed jewel, and most importantly, it was one of the best emeralds to come to market in years. When you combine all of those things, the price reflects its quality.”
Private collections containing a variety of signed jewels featured in this sale, with many items far exceeding estimates. All 29 pieces from the Zilkha collection sold, fetching a total of $11.7 million — nearly double their combined high estimates. Eleven jewels from the collection of philanthropist and arts patron Marylou Whitney brought in a total of $1.7 million.
Overall, the sale achieved $46.9 million, the highest total for a Sotheby’s New York jewelry auction since 2017. About 91% of the 210 lots sold, with 74% fetching prices above their high estimates and nine pieces surpassing $1 million. Sotheby’s conducted the sale using the hybrid online and live auction program it had adopted during the coronavirus pandemic, taking online bids in advance of the live event.
Fancy-colored diamonds accounted for six of the top 10 lots. Goldberg was particularly impressed with two heart-shaped diamonds. The first, a 1.71-carat fancy-red, fetched approximately $3.2 million, and a 2-carat, fancy-vivid-orange one went for nearly $1.9 million.
Several fancy-yellow diamonds produced robust results, noted David Doppelt of New York-based diamond jewelry house Jonathan Doppelt. “Sotheby’s had a great selection of yellows, and they all sold pretty well. Overall, it was pretty impressive when you consider we are in a global pandemic. It’s nice to see collectors are still hungry.”
One lot he highlighted was an oval-shaped, 5.24-carat, fancy-intense-yellow diamond on a Cartier ring that fetched almost double its high estimate at $189,000. “That was an amazing result.”
Two other fancy-intense-yellows that caught his eye were a cushion-cut, 34.66-carat stone that fetched $746,000, and a cut-cornered rectangular modified brilliant, 15.29-carat specimen that sold for $327,600.
However, there were two fancy-colored diamonds that didn’t sell, including the stone initially projected to be the top lot: a cut-cornered rectangular mixed-cut, 5.03-carat, fancy-vivid-pink diamond with an estimate of $9 million to $12 million. The stone had “superb color” but only “fair symmetry,” according to Goldberg. He felt the price tag was too high for dealers who would have had to finish the stone after purchasing. This limited the pool of buyers to private collectors.
Doppelt agreed. “Sometimes these stones go outside the realm of budgets. There’s a big difference between $1 million and $10 million. But it was a really gorgeous stone.”
The other unsold colored diamond was a heart-shaped, 2.28-carat, fancy-vivid-blue stone with an estimate of approximately $2.3 million to $3.3 million. Goldberg was “not surprised it didn’t sell,” as it had “weak color” and a heart shape that was unusual.
While there were many strong performers when it came to signed jewels, a few pieces stood out. Among them was a pair of circa-1970s Bulgari earclips with an inverse color scheme: One suspended a pear-shaped diamond of 9.60 carats from tiers of oval-shaped emeralds, while the other held a pear-shaped, 9.07-carat emerald below a cascading cluster of oval-shaped diamonds. The earrings achieved nearly $1.2 million.
“Exceptional earrings in particular are hard to find,” remarked Kwiat. “When you see them at auction, you can bet it will make a strong price.”
The signed jewel that outperformed all the others was a Van Cleef & Arpels flower brooch with mystery-set, calibré-cut sapphire petals, featuring round and marquise-shaped diamonds on its stem and leaves. It sold for just over $1.1 million, more than nine times its high estimate.
“This is exactly in the realm of iconic designs that the best houses can produce,” Kwiat said. “It’s exceptionally collectible, with a wonderful design that is incredibly intricate. It’s a very unusual flower design for them. Certain motifs are often recurring, but this one is a very nuanced and intricate flower. Also, it was a very large scale.”
The price set a record for a Van Cleef & Arpels mystery-set jewel, according to Bruning, who declared it “a beautiful piece exquisitely made.”
Article from the Rapaport Magazine - January 2021. To subscribe click here.