The famous jewellery designer Jennie Kwon once said, “Jewellery has the power to be this one little thing that can make you feel unique”. Whether a statement piece or a delicate design, it is bound to complete your look. And what better place to turn to than jewellery auctions for the best?
Blue Moon
In mid-November last year, Hong Kong-based billionaire and property tycoon Joseph Lau spent $48.4 million on the Blue Moon—a 12.03-carat diamond—at Sotheby's Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels in Geneva. Lau immediately renamed it 'Blue Moon of Josephine' after his seven-year-old daughter. 'Blue Moon,' which had a pre-sale estimate of $35-$55 million, broke several records, making the gemstone the most expensive diamond (regardless of colour) and the most expensive jewel ever sold at an auction. It also fetched the highest-ever price per carat.
Sweet Josephine
Lau also acquired a rare 16.08-carat diamond at $28.5 million. The largest of its kind to ever go under the hammer at Christie’s, the diamond belonged to an American family for the past 15 years. Lau with his penchant rechristening gemstones post acquisition, immediately renamed the piece 'Sweet Josephine'. The spectacular cushion-shaped diamond, set in a ring and rounded with a double row of smaller pavé white diamonds, has the exceptional attribute of having no secondary colour and earned the 'Fancy Vivid' colour grading from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA).
Unique Pink
This May, the 'Unique Pink', led Sotheby's sale of Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels in Geneva. The rare 'Fancy Vivid Pink' diamond weighing 15.38 carats sold for an exceptional $31,561,200 (price per carat: $2,052,094)—a new world record for any jewellery auction. In addition to receiving the highest possible colour grading for a pink diamond from the Gemological Institute of America, the 'Unique Pink' has been found to be Type IIa, displaying 'exceedingly pure structure'. Sold to a private Asian buyer, the stone’s pear shape and brilliant cut accentuate its exceptional saturation, placing it in a rarefied category even among the world’s most beautiful diamonds.
Oppenheimer Blue
Once owned by Sir Philip Oppenheimer, who controlled the Diamond Syndicate in London, the Oppenheimer Blue is the largest and finest Fancy Vivid Blue diamond ever offered at auction. It sold for $57.5 million at Christie's ‘Magnificent Jewels’ Geneva Spring Auction, this May. Weighing 14.62 carats, the colour of this exceptional stone was graded Fancy Vivid. In blue diamonds, Fancy Vivid specifically describes those that are medium to dark in tone and strong to very strong in saturation.
Blue diamond Trombino ring
A cushion-shaped fancy deep-blue diamond, weighing 5.30 carats, set horizontally within a mount pavé-set with brilliant-cut diamonds and courses of baguette-cut diamonds, sold for £6,201,250 at an auction by Bonhams in April 2013. The fancy deep-blue diamond mounted in a 'Trombino' ring was made by Bulgari, in the mid 1960s. Bulgari's appreciation of the beauty and rarity of natural coloured diamonds spurred the firm's buyers to become active in the Indian market during the 1950s and many ancestral diamonds that belonged to maharajas and nawabs were bought.
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