Strong prices and an upbeat
mood characterized the
latest Christie’s Geneva sale.
By David Brough
T
he Magnificent Jewels auction
at Christie’s Geneva was
livelier and better attended
than previous sales that took
place during the coronavirus
pandemic, with many lots achieving prices
comparable to those from before the crisis.
The few dozen people present in the
salesroom at the Four Seasons Hotel des
Bergues on July 22 included European
dealers and prominent figures such
as Paris-based designer Joel Arthur
Rosenthal — aka JAR— and members
of the Boghossian family of jewelers.
Attendance was significantly higher than
at the Sotheby’s Geneva Magnificent
Jewels sale a month earlier, hinting
that the market was slowly getting back
to normal.
Ahead of the Christie’s auction, a
wide array of consigned items were on
show for inspection. Social distancing
measures were in place; dealers examined
jewelry on behalf of absent colleagues,
and buyers had to register and get their
temperatures taken.
Most of the items sold successfully —
88% by lot, 80% by value — indicating
that the high-end auction market
remained well-supported. These included
the rarest and most exquisite pieces,
notably signed ones.
‘A VERY ENCOURAGING RESULT’
“Despite the challenging times, the
jewelry market remains resilient, and
collectors continue to pursue the rare and
beautiful at Christie’s,” chief auctioneer
Rahul Kadakia told
Rapaport Magazine
.
“We realized $43 million in four hours,
with strong prices across the board.”
And while this was “a much smaller
sale in value terms than in previous years,”
noted Thomas Faerber, a vintage jewelry
dealer who attended the auction, it yielded
“a very encouraging result in the present
climate.”
Faerber, who is also a cofounder of the
GemGenève trade show, noted that “nice
jewelry and fine colored stones fetched
around pre-coronavirus prices.” In
particular, he cited a 12.44-carat Kashmir
sapphire that garnered $93,304 per
carat, and an octagonal step-cut, 29.54-
carat Colombian emerald that achieved
$60,822 per carat.
Exceptionally rare and magnificent
diamonds also performed well, including
a 100.85-carat, D-color
diamond that jeweler
Moussaieff purchased
for just under $6 million
— comfortably above its
CHF 4.5 million ($4.8
million) high estimate.
The star lot, a twin-
stone ring by A. Reza
featuring a fancy-vivid-
blue, internally flawless
diamond of 5.34 carats
and a 5.37-carat, D, IF
diamond, fetched $9.3
million, falling within estimates.
“When correctly estimated, white and
colored diamonds all found buyers at
the current market prices,” commented
Faerber.
SIGNATURE MOVES
Extraordinary signed vintage pieces
consistently outperformed expectations.
Among themwas an Art Deco diamond
bracelet by Boucheron with old rose- and
circular-cut diamonds, which went for
CHF 312,000 ($331,250), more than twice
its high estimate.
“This was an exquisite example of an Art
Deco piece, with an avant-garde design
[and of] aristocratic origin,” said Geneva-
based gemstone dealer Elke Berr of Berr &
Partners SA, who attended the sale.
Berr singled out a 10.07-carat sapphire
that went for CHF 212,500 ($225,250)
and an Art Deco Cartier tutti frutti
bracelet from circa 1930 that netted CHF
615,000 ($651,900). Both more than
doubled their high estimates.
“Exceptional gems, rare in size, color
and quality, keep their value and find
investors or collectors,” Berr said. “The
same applies to French signed pieces from
a certain period (notably Art Deco) and
other rare pieces,” particularly houses
such as Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels.
Faerber agreed that “most signed
jewels found buyers at
fair prices.” The tutti
frutti Cartier bracelet
fetched a “surprisingly
high” amount, he said,
considering that it was
relatively small; he
noted that the piece
had sold in New York in
1995 for $74,000.
Of course, some
beautiful items failed to
sell — a reminder that
the right buyers don’t
always come forward and that market
conditions may not have fully readjusted
yet. Among items that passed unsold were
a ring featuring a rectangular mixed-
cut, fancy-vivid-pink diamond with an
estimate of CHF 1.1 million to CHF 1.5
million ($1.2 million to $1.6 million), and a
diamond pendant necklace with a CHF 1.7
million to CHF 2.5 million ($1.8 million to
$2.7 million) estimate.
There were “no ‘high-flying’ world-
record results as sometimes we had before
the crisis,” Berr summed up, “but prices
were not low, either.”
◼
A S HOW O F
S U P P O R T
26
SEPTEMBER 2020
DIAMONDS.NET
“Despite the
challenging times,
the jewelry market
remains resilient,
and collectors
continue to pursue
the rare and
beautiful”
A U C T I O N
R E P O R T
