April and May are notorious for bringing us a few staple items. Rain showers. Spring flowers. Weddings. Graduations. But this year, they brought us something we weren’t counting on. Record breaking jewelry auctions. Like, the crazy record-breaking kind. Let’s go over some of the biggies that made the news and some stunners that might not have made it to the front page of your local paper, but were wowzers just the same.
We all heard about it. It was all over the newswires, so we’ll just get this one out of the way first. The Oppenheimer Blue is a stunning stone. No doubt about it. And when it was auctioned of May 18th at Christie’s Geneva location, it fetched a stunning price. Record breaking to be exact. The $57,500,000 it garnered was the most a jewel of any kind had ever received at auction. And apparently there was a bit of a bidding war going on for it. If anyone knows the bidders, please send them a link to our website.
We wrote about the Princess’ amazing jewelry collection a few weeks ago. But when we heard that the whole of the lots went for a grand total of $148,639,176. . . . well, I guess she doesn’t need to find a third prince to help her rebuild her jewelry collection. She can do that all on her own now.
One of the lots in Christie’s auction on the 18th that we were surprised didn’t get much press was the ever-gorgeous Pohl Diamond. At 36 carats, the rectangular cut stone was transformed into a ring by Cartier. The D color/VVS1 clarity (with the possibility that it’s actually internally flawless) stone had us Googling finger transplants, so we could get our ring size up to its current 6 1/2 range. The going price for this stunner – $4,397,374 US.
Our very favorite piece in the May 18th auction (and the piece that we hinted and hoped for, hopelessly), was this Ruby and Diamond Brooch Pendant, that had once belonged to HM Queen Victoria Eugenia of Spain. She was the granddaughter of Queen Victoria and in all likelihood, (although it couldn’t be documented for certain) the brooch was actually a present to Victoria from her beloved Albert and handed down to Victoria Eugenia. The brooch holds a stunning ruby and 10 old cut diamonds and dates to the 1880’s. It had us at hello. And went for $$372,486 US. Mere pocket change, compared to the pieces listed above. We were not able to convince any of our suitors of such, however.
It must have been the month for blue diamonds, as the Shirley Temple Blue went up on the block, as well. We wrote about that stone and its provenance a few weeks back. And we’re still reeling from the shock that it didn’t sell at auction, not having met the minimum required bid. The good news – there’s still time for us to buy the winning lotto ticket before they put it back up for sale. #winning
Christie’s wasn’t the only one hawking blue diamonds on the 18th. Sotheby’s had their own vivid blue, although we all knew going in that it wouldn’t garner the attention or the price that the Oppenheimer would. However it still managed to eek out a pretty penny at $17,112,629 US. Nothing to sneeze at for certain.
It was certainly the time for blues. Sotheby’s had auctioned off yet another gorgeous blue in April on the 5th in Hong Kong. This blue took in an amazing $32,013,223 US. I wonder if whoever purchased it (these things always seem to be kept secret, much to our dismay) now wishes they’d waited for the Oppenheimer. Or do they feel like they got a great deal, since they paid just over 1/2 of what the Oppenheimer would have cost them?
It wasn’t ALL about the blues. There was one orange standout that got little press but made waves just the same. This 4.08 carat Fancy Vivid Orange was the star of the show at Sotheby’s Hong Kong on the 5th, if you ask us. Look at that color! And apparently we weren’t the only ones to think so. Because it sold for a whopping $2,485,963 US. For four carats. Let’s not even break that down per carat. Because it’s crazy.
Which one would you have chosen, if money were no object. Tell us in the comments below!
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