Diamonds attracted a crowd at the Bonhams Fine Jewelry auction
December 15, 2011 by All Art News
Filed under Artifacts & Decorative Arts
NEW YORK, N.Y.- Outstanding colored and colorless diamonds highlighted the Fine Jewelry sale on December 13 at the New York headquarters of Bonhams. Due to trimulcasting to San Francisco and Los Angeles, large in-house participation, active international online and phone bidding, this holiday jewelry auction realized $4.83 million with 80% sold by lot.
Matthew Girling, the Group Jewelry Director at Bonhams, states about the sale, “The sale showed the underlying strength in the jewelry market. We exhibited the sale in Hong Kong, London and California prior to the sale in New York and we had participation in the sale across the globe.”
The Fine Jewelry sale was lead by a Cartier art deco emerald bead, onyx and diamond necklace. These 32 graduated fluted emerald beads, with onyx and single cut diamond rondell spacers sold for $266,500 (pre-sale est. $80,000-120,000).
- This holiday jewelry auction realized $4.83 million with 80% sold by lot. Photo: Bonhams.
Elsewhere in the auction was property from the Private Collection of Suzanne Crowell. The proceeds made in the sale of their six lots will benefit the mission of Huntington Memorial Hospital, a non-profit medical center that has served the greater Los Angeles community since 1892. Leading this private collection in the sale was a Van Cleef & Arpels 11.59 carat rectangular-cut diamond ring which more than doubled its pre-sale estimate, hammering at $194,500 (pre-sale est. $60,000-80,000), which added greatly to the total of $277,00 made for the medical center.
Diamond solitaire rings continue to prove popular at auction. The top diamond solitaire lots included a 5.06 carat marquise shaped diamond, selling for $146,500 (pre-sale est. $90,000-150,000); a 3.22 carat rectangular-cut diamond, selling for $128,500 (pre-sale est. $75,000-95,000); and a Harry Winston 3.00 carat ovalshaped diamond, selling for $92,500 (pre-sale est. $75,000-80,000).
The highly anticipated Exceptional Jewels: Property from a Private Collection went on sale immediately following the Fine Jewelry sale. An outstanding suite of jewelry, which included a fancy colored diamond and colorless diamond necklace, bracelet, as well as, pendant earrings, sold for a total of $1.39 million.
