Auction News Network

44-ct. Diamond Ring Leads Christie’s Sale

Christie’s offers no estimate for the 44.09-carat ring it simply describes as “magnificent.” Mounted in platinum, the ring has tapered baguette-cut diamonds on either side of its rectangular-cut flawless gem. Presumably, at the April 17^th sale in New York, it will go for at least as much as the next highest estimated offering, a circa 1910 9-carat belle époque “purplish” pink diamond, which is expected to sell for $6m-$8m.

$250,000 Expected For Olympic Marathon Cup

Spyros Louis, a one-time Greek water carrier, won the first modern running of the Olympic marathon 116 years ago. 17 runners started that race, 10 finished, but one was later disqualified when it was discovered he rode part of the way in a carriage. Louis was presented with a richly embellished silver cup now consigned by his family to Christie’s for its Olympic posters and icons sale next month in London.

$300,000 For Chinese Bronze Wine Vessel

Bronze vessels, inlaid with gold and silver were powerful symbols of wealth and power in China, often buried with their owners, only to be dug up 2-thousand years later. At its Asian antiques sale, Elite Auctions will offer an anthropomorphic Wine Container with a removable head cast during the so-called “the Warring states” period (475-221 BC). High estimate, $300,000.

The World’s Biggest Faceted Emerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote a story called “The Diamond As Big As the Ritz.” Were he alive today, who knows what sort of narrative he might be inspired to fashion about a remarkable gem coming up for auction on February 26? It’s a 65,500ct earth mined stone, not quite as big as a hotel perhaps, but large enough to be the world’s largest faceted emerald. Not many precedents exist for evaluating its worth, which accounts for its rather broad  estimate of $100,000-$500,000.

Washington Wine Cooler Sells For $800,000

A silver wine cooler George Washington gave to his close political ally Alexander Hamilton sold for nearly $800,000 today at a Christie’s Americana auction in New York.  Washington commissioned the Sheffield-plated cooler designed to hold four bottles with orders that in keeping with the new country it was not to be “extravagant.” It is simply decorated with a lion’s mask and ring handles.

Silver Cups From Salem Witch Trial Judge

Not quite a decade after the notorious Salem Witch trials of 1692, the judge who presided commissioned a pair of silver standing cups, made in 1701 by the goldsmith Jeremiah Dummer of Boston. That judge was Governor William Stoughton of Massachusetts, whose cups will be a highlight at Sotheby’s Americana sale on January 20-21^st in New York. They’re expected to sell for $1m-$2m.

Liz Taylor Frenzy Continues

An inscribed Andy Warhol lithograph of Elizabeth Taylor soared to $662,500, leaving its $30,000-$50,000 estimate far behind, as the bidding frenzy continued at Christie’s in New York. Yesterday’s sales focused on a second offering of jewelry, which added $21.3m to the $115.9m achieved at the preceding night’s auction of jewels, and on haute couture, which achieved a total of $2.6m. The top selling gown was a Christian Dior evening dress of silver encrusted brocade, which sold for $362,500.

Taylor’s Jewelry Rockets Past Estimates

Last night at Christie’s it didn’t take long for the sale of Elizabeth Taylor’s jewelry to blast through its $30m estimate. An immense, 50.6ct dog-chewed pearl known as “La Peregrina” that Taylor’s fifth (and sixth) husband Richard Burton gave her fetched $11.8m alone, which was almost four times its high estimate. That formed the pattern for the evening, which brought in a total of $115.9m, the highest total ever for a private jewelry auction.

Drawings Of Royal Bling For Sale

She was the “Grand Duchess of Russia,” daughter and sister of Tsars, who died in 1960 in a London apartment once the grandness was over, leaving a thousand pages of drawings and watercolors recording all the jewelry she received in her prime. The jewels are gone, but the two volumes of her bling illustrations are offered at Bonham’s London Russian sale next month.  High estimate is $400,000.

Yellow Diamonds To Turn Green

Even in the usual hyperbole of the auction world, these yellow diamonds are truly hyperbolic. One is the size of a ping pong ball at 110.03 carats. They call it the “Sun Drop.” It will probably go in the $15m range at Sotheby’s Geneva auction next month. The other is “only”32.77 carats. It’s called “The Vivid Yellow.” Christie’s estimates the high range of $8m at its October 18^th sale in New York.

Update: The Vivid Yellow sold for $6.6m, above its low estimate of $6m.

Hong Kong Shrugs Off Turmoil

In a result that’s seen an encouraging sign of continuing demand in Asian markets, Sotheby’s closed out its six day Asian sales series in Hong Kong with a final tally of $385m. That amount was considerably higher than the auction house’s $300m pre-sales estimate for the 3,600 lots offered, and the second highest total Sotheby’s has achieved in a Hong Kong series.

Bulgari Blue Diamond Glitters At Bonhams

Every so often, in roughly one of every 10,000 diamonds mined, a diamond appears whose carbon atoms interact with its other trace elements to produce a different colored gem. The rarest are blue, and of these, the most coveted of all are designated “fancy vivid blue.” Around 1960, Bulgari combined one such stone weighing 3.72 carats with another 3.93ct pear shaped diamond to fashion a remarkable “crossover” ring. On Wednesday, when Bonhams offers the ring for the first time in London, it’s expected to fetch $942,000-$1.26m.

Update: The blue diamond ring sold for $2.96m, more than double its high estimate.

Feds Flip Flawless Diamond, Nab $2.8m

The wheels of justice grind slowly, but in Cleveland they finally turned up a 43.5-carat yellow diamond called “the Golden Eye” owned by a convicted money launderer for drug dealers. It took 5-years after the Feds seized it to sell it for $2.84 million through an online auction. The U.S. Marshall’s office gets to keep most of the money.

Buy A Necklace, Save A Tiger

A necklace fashioned from two pounds of 18-carat gold, adorned with two sculpted tigers, 182 diamonds and seven carats of emeralds—modeled by actress Joanna Lumley–is being auctioned to raise money to save remaining tigers in the wild and to support the Born Free Foundation.  Sponsors are hoping to net $500,000.

Christie’s Mines Gold In Hong Kong

The price of a painting by Chinese master Zhang Daqian soared seven times over its estimate to $7.3m, a matching pair of “singing bird” pistols found a $5.87m target, and six magnums of 1961 Chateau Latour pulled in a sobering $232,000. All that happened at Christie’s series of wine, art, jewelry, and watch auctions over the weekend in Hong Kong. Our roundup covering the highlights follows.