Christie’s Makes a $14M ‘Spectacle’ in Geneva

RAPAPORT… A diamond weighing nearly 101 carats was the star of the Christie’s Geneva auction, bringing in more than $14 million.

The rectangular-cut, D-color, internally flawless stone, called the Spectacle, fetched $141,000 per carat at the May 12 Magnificent Jewels sale, which garnered $63.5 million in total, Christie’s said Wednesday. Manufactured from a rough mined at Alrosa’s Zarnitsa pipe in Yakutia, it is only the third 100-carat-plus, D-color diamond the auction house has offered over the past 10 years. Christie’s had estimated the stone at $13.2 million to $19.8 million.

Other notable items included an oval-cut, 15.23-carat, fancy-intense-pink diamond, which sold within its valuation at $9.5 million.

Christie’s also sold a nine-piece parure belonging to Stephanie de Beauharnais — grand duchess of Baden and adopted daughter of Napoleon I — featuring a tiara, one collier, a pair of earrings, a ring, a bracelet, two pendants and two brooches. It offered the items alongside the sapphire crown of Maria II, queen of Portugal, with the 10 jewels achieving a total of $3.6 million.

A rectangular-cut, 8.06-carat, fancy-purplish-pink diamond ring by Boucheron also performed well, raking in $3.5 million, more than double its high estimate. A heart-shaped brilliant-cut, 53.53-carat, D-color diamond pendant sold for $3.1 million, near its upper valuation.

Meanwhile, two items sold well above their estimates. A sapphire and diamond necklace by Cartier went for $2 million, more than double its upper valuation, while the 19th-century sapphire and diamond Braganza Crown fetched $1.9 million, over five times its high estimate.

“Christie’s saw strong bidding from all over the world both online and on the telephone, with clients back in the room for the first time in over a year,” said Max Fawcett, head of the jewelry department at Christie’s. “The market demonstrated incredible strength, and prices were strong in both diamonds as well as historic and signed jewelry.”

Christie’s sold 91% of the items on offer to participants from 50 countries, with 13 of the jewels selling for more than $1 million, the auction house added.

Image: The Spectacle diamond. (Christie’s)