The sale of Magnificent Jewels was included in Sotheby’s Luxury Week, a series of auction sales that began in November 2020, between Geneva, Hong-Kong and New York. Result: 98.4% of all lots sold above the minimum estimates, and over 56% above the maximum estimates. The overall number of bidders increased by more than 80% from the same sale last year and by more than 126% from the same sale last year, but phone and room deals were also stronger than in the previous year. last year. Additionally, the number of new entrants more than doubled from last year for the equivalent sale. Another interesting fact: strong increase in participants under the age of 40, more than double the number of those who took part in the equivalent sale in 2021.
That said, the jewelry auction in Geneva also marks the record price per carat for a cushion-cut Burmese pink sapphire (90,622 per carat) weighing 20.58 carats. It was sold to Alisa Moussaieff, the mind and driving force of the jewelry house of the same name, for 1.8 million dollars, tripling the maximum estimate. Record price per carat also for a blue sapphire of Burmese origin ($ 137,525 per carat) set on a diamond ring weighing 20.16 carats, among the shoulders of Cartier diamonds sold for 2.8 million to Assil, a trading company gems of New York.
Another highly appreciated jewel, a record for Jean Schlumberger’s pieces, was a pink sapphire of Ceylon origin on a diamond brooch from the collection of Fiona Thyssen Bornemisza. The cushion gem weighing 92.01 carats has a frame of intertwined branches surrounded by small pear-shaped blue sapphires and diamonds. Made by Schlumberger in the 1950s, the brooch sold for $ 1.7 million.
Overall, Sotheby’s fifth series of Geneva Luxury Week auctions reached $ 69.3 million, including a $ 14.2 million watch auction. A curiosity: sales also included the chassis of Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari F2003-GA, one of the most important sports cars of all time, sold for 14.8 million dollars, making it the Formula 1 car of ‘ it was the most valuable modern ever sold.
