TAIPEI—Christie’s first fine jewelry, jadeite and watch auction in Asia—held in Taipei in October-achieved US$2.02 million with 139 lots of the 189 lots offered, or 73.5 percent, receiving bids.
David Warren, head of Christie’s jewelry division in Asia, said to gauge the demands of the Asian market and to encourage first time bidders Christie’s offered a wide range of pieces. The 100 fine jewelry lots ranged from $800-$300,000 with a few pieces from the 19th century. The jadeite selection of approximately 25 pieces ranged from $1,000-$100,000 and the approximately 60 watches offered ranged from styles of 1910 to the present.
The highest bid of $136,000 went to a rectangular diamond of 5.16 carats, certified from the Gemological Institute of America as D color internally flawless, mounted in a platinum ring with tapered baguette-cut diamond single-stone shoulders.
A necklace, earrings and ring set of diamond and ruby achieved $99,600 making it the second most expensive lot sold, while a carved Gunny in jadeite pendant hung with a brilliant and baguette-cut diamond and mounted in 18k white gold sold for $83,000.
Mr. Warren, who moved to Hong Kong in May and expected Christie’s first Asian jewelry auction to be held in Hong Kong in May 1994, said with the strong market demand in Asia and the unexpectedly large number of pieces offered, Christie’s decided to offer jewelry, jadeite and watch lots in conjunction with Christie’s auction of Western paintings in Taipei.
Initially Christie’s planned to offer 60 jewelry lots, but due to the recession in the US and Europe people from all over the world offered their pieces for the Asian auction. Sellers don’t care when or where the auctions are held as long as they are in Asia, Mr. Warren said.
In particular, Christie’s has seen an increased demand from the Taiwanese. Taiwanese bidders increased by approximately 58 percent between the New York jewelry auction in October 1992 and the one in April 1993, Mr. Warren said.
“We have, for several years, witnessed a tremendous growth in buyers from Asia, of which the Taiwanese have become the driving force,” he said.
Christie’s
GENEVA—The 78.54 carat “Archduke Joseph” diamond, the Largest D-color diamond ever auctioned, sold for US$6.455 million—nearly doubling its presale estimate—at Christie’s fine jewelry auction in November.
The “Archduke Joseph” diamond bought by Ishaia Trading Corporation, an American diamond cutting firm, is classified by the Gemological Institute of America as D-color, SI1. The cushion-shaped stone, thought to have originated in the legendary Golconda diamond mines in India, was once owned by Archduke Joseph of Austria (1872-1962).
Total sales for the 476-lot auction were $41.408 million with 80 percent of the lots receiving bids.
The second most expensive lot, bought by Graff Diamonds for $4.109 million, was a flawless fancy purplish pink diamond of 10.83 carats. After the sale, Laurence Graff maned the stone “The Graff Pink”
A pair of diamond ear pendants, signed by Van Cleef & Arpels, went for $2.275 million, up significantly from their presale estimate of $ 700,000-$850,000. The ear pendants are each set with detachable diamond drops weighing 19.16 carats and 19.43 carats. The 19.43 carat diamond is D-color, VS1 and the 19.16 carat diamond is D-color, VVS2. Each pear-shaped diamond drop is suspended by a circular, marquise-cut and pear-shaped diamond cluster mounted in platinum.
Robert Mouawad paid $1.791 million for a pair of fancy colored diamond ear pendants. One piece is designed with a marquise-cut fancy intense yellow diamond of 7.03 carats surrounded by pear and marquise-cut diamonds. The piece is suspended from an oval-cut fancy orange pink diamond of 5.35 carats with a three-quarter surround of pear and marquise-cut diamonds. The other piece is set with a 6.77 marquise-cut fancy intense yellow diamond with diamond surround and suspended by an oval-cut fancy blue diamond weighing 5.31 carats with a three-quarter surround of diamonds. The weight of the surrounding diamond is approximately 29 carats.
Other exceptional pieces in Christie’s fine jewelry auction included a flawless pear-shaped fancy pink diamond of 9.01 carats which sold for $1.102 million to Robert Mouawad. A flawless D-color oval-cut diamond of 20.32 carats went for $882,000 and a rectangular-cut fancy bluish-grey diamond weighing 15.47 carats achieved $530,000.
The late Audrey Hepburn’s sapphire and diamond brooch by Bulgaria sold for $61,000. The brooch estimated at $20,000-$27,000 is set with an oval-cut sapphire weighing 20.58 carats surrounded by pear-shaped diamonds. Before her death Ms. Hepburn requested the piece be auctioned to benefit The Motion Picture Actors home in Los Angeles.
Worldwide Christie’s jewelry sales totaled $130.718 million for 1993, up from 1992’s sales of $122 million.