The Battle of the Jewels takes place in Geneva. One day before Christie’s auctions off the super diamond on May 15, Sotheby Geneva will offer for sale 650 lots of jewels with aristocratic origins: an auction not surprisingly called Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels. On May 14, in addition to the 23 pieces from Gina Lollobrigida’s collection, extraordinary jewels will be auctioned, such as a 74.53-carat fancy cushion-cut yellow diamond, which once belonged to Sultan Ahmed Shah Qajar, the seventh and last king of the dynasty Qajar of Persia. This piece has an estimate of 1.8 million. Then there is an important pink diamond and a diamond necklace previously belonging to a noble lady valued at around 2.5 million dollars. The necklace features a detachable pendant set with two marquise diamonds, one 6.93-carat brilliant-cut, pink diamonds and two circular-cut diamonds of 34.78 carats and one 11.38 carats. Sotheby’s will also auction a 27.90-carat diamond cushion, D, with an estimate of 6 million. The diamond has received the highest color and clarity grade from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) and is in the Type IIa subgroup, which comprises less than 2 percent of all gemstone diamonds and often have extraordinary optical clarity. Also scheduled for the Geneva auction are colored diamonds, sapphires, emeralds and Burmese rubies alongside jewels designed by Suzanne Belperron for her friend Cecyle Simon.
