Contributors
Rising Value of Unrestored Cars
By Malcolm Welford, Vintage Car Specialist
Jewelry
World Records At Christie’s Jewelry Sale
May 20, 2011Recessionary restraint? It was nowhere in view at Christie’s auction of Magnificent Jewels in Geneva this week, as more than $78m changed hands. The auction house chalked up several world records on the way toward its most successful jewelry sale ever in Switzerland. A heart-shaped diamond of 56.15-cts sold for a record $10.95m, and a massive 130.50-ct cushion-cut Burmese sapphire changed hands for $7.12m,, the highest price ever paid for a sapphire at auction.
Read more...Royal Prices For Royal Jewels
May 18, 2011Sotheby’s was hoping to get as much as $10.5m for an emerald and diamond tiara that the auction house was calling the finest to appear at auction in 30 years. As it happened, it sold for even more in Geneva yesterday, claiming a final price of $12.7m. Crafted around 1910, and featuring emeralds believed to have belonged to the Empress Eugenie, the tiara had been in the collection of Princess Katharina Henckel von Donnersmarck.
Read more...Skulls & Pearls At Bonhams
May 12, 2011Once, the saber-toothed cat (aka Machairodus giganteus), was the top carnivore of Central Asia. Looking at its skull and jaws, it’s easy to see why. Bonhams will sell one of the largest examples every offered at auction at its annual Natural History sale on May 17th in New York. Over 16 inches long, its bite is estimated at $65,000-$75,000.
Read more...A Spy, A Duchess & Their Jewels
April 28, 2011In World War II, Marie Aline Griffith served as an American spy in Madrid. Later, she married into Spanish aristocracy, became a countess, and amassed a collection of jewelry that Sotheby’s will auction on May 17 in Geneva. A highlight is the diamond and ruby necklace/brooch she’s wearing that’s expected to go for close to $150,000.
Read more...Crown Fit For A Queen, Made For A Princess
April 13, 2011The prince wanted something special for his princess, so he commissioned a work to stun even the crowned heads of Europe, a diamond tiara topped by 11, rare, pear shaped emeralds weighing more than 550 carats. Sotheby’s will sell it next month at an auction in Geneva. They are hoping for $5-$10 million.
Read more...Hermes Dog Leashes? Absolutely
April 13, 2011At Christie’s last “Elegance” sale in December, nine Hermes handbags sold for almost $50,000 each. This year’s auction in London on May 25th and 26th features a similar grab bag of luxury items: Expensive watches, jewelry, more exotic skin Hermes handbags, even Hermes crocodile dog collars and leashes. One colorful offering is a 9ct. gold Cartier notebook case that was a gift from Lord Mountbatten’s wife to Major Edward Dudley Metcalfe. She called him “Fruity.”
Read more...Vatican Jewels Jump From Evel To eBay
April 12, 2011In one of the odder pairings in recent memory, a diamond studded cross and ring once owned by both Pope Paul VI and daredevil Evel Knievel are headed to eBay. Some 50 years ago the Pope donated them to the U.N., which auctioned them for $64,000 to benefit several charities. Since then, they’ve passed through a number of owners, including Knievel and the present one, a North Carolina widow who hopes to realize as much as $900,000 from the auction.
Read more...Christie’s To Sell Elizabeth Taylor’s Jewels
April 11, 2011Elizabeth Taylor’s affection for expensive jewelry was legend. There was, for example, the 69.42-carat Taylor-Burton diamond pictured, or the 33-carat Krupp diamond that Burton gave her in 1968 for her 40th birthday. Now Christie’s has confirmed that they’ve reached an agreement with Taylor’s family to sell her highly valuable jewelry collection in a series of auctions later this year.
Read more...How European Aristocrats Lived
April 11, 2011Once, these objects filled the great houses of Europe’s aristocracy—items like a set of double-cased set of drawing instruments (est. $73,600-$114,400) that luxury goods maker Alphonse Giroux created in the 19th century for the Duchesse de Berry. Her collection forms the majority of the more than 1000 items that Sotheby’s will be offering in London later this week in a sale it’s calling “Noblesse Oblige.”
Read more...Sotheby’s Most Successful Hong Kong Series Ever
April 08, 2011When the final hammer came down today, closing out Sotheby’s most successful series of auctions in Hong Kong to date, more than $447m had changed hands, well above the $340m anticipated. Over eight days, Sotheby’s offered more than 3,600 lots across eight categories, as record highs were recorded for wine, watches, and various categories of Asian art.
Read more...$53.5m Hong Kong Jewelry Sale
April 06, 2011Why should jewels be an exception? Asian buyers predominated as Sotheby’s continued its Hong Kong juggernaut, racking up sales of $53.5m at its Magnificent Jewels & Jadeite auction earlier today. It was Sotheby’s second highest total ever for a sale of jewels in Hong Kong. A 25.50-Carat Brilliant-Cut D-Color Flawless Diamond was the top lot at $5.1m, just above the $4.8m paid for a pair of Harry Winston Diamond Pendent Earrings totaling 36.48 Carats.
Read more...Magnificent Jewels–And Estimates
April 01, 2011There’s an appealing modesty to the way Christie’s describes the leading lot of its April 12th Magnificent Jewelry auction in New York. It’s simply called “A Colored Diamond Ring.” The ring’s estimate, however, is rather less modest. Weighing 10.09 carats, flanked by cushion-cut diamonds, the purple-pink diamond ring is expected to sell for $12-$15 million.
Read more...Sotheby’s Begins Spring Hong Kong Sales
March 31, 2011Watches, wine, art, jewelry, Chinese ceramics, and porcelain – they’ll all be featured as Sotheby’s begins its series of Asia Week auctions tomorrow in Hong Kong. There will even be a sale devoted to Rhinocerus Horn Carvings. Kicking off the series will be a wine auction, The Classic Cellar from a Great American Collector, featuring 69 lots of Mouton Rothschild, for which Hong Kong buyers have demonstrated a notable thirst. Included are 6 Jeroboams and 6 Imperials, estimated to sell for as much as $18,000 each.
Read more...Gloria Swanson’s Diamond Ring
March 10, 2011In her lifetime, actress Gloria Swanson (1899-1983) was a famous stylista as well as movie star, known for her fabulous wardrobe. In the 1920’s, when she was the highest paid actress in Hollywood, she’s reputed to have spent as much as $500,000 a year on jewelry alone. Later this spring in Paris, Christie’s will offer an example of her celebrated taste, a 5.1 carat rectangular-cut diamond ring that’s expected to sell for $96,500-$138,000.
Read more...Royal Attic Sale
March 09, 2011Even royals, it appears, have attic sales. This one concerns the property of the late Queen Juliana of the Netherlands. Sotheby’s will sell it in Amsterdam on March 14-16. Although the Queen acquired some of these 1600 lots, most of the furniture, porcelain, glass, silver, and art was accumulated by previous royal generations over the past 150 years and has been stored in the attics of the seven royal palaces in the Netherlands.
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