An hexagon-shaped Classic Colombian emerald with an adventure story and other great pieces at auction at Sotheby’s ♦
The emeralds are usually cut with a roughly rectangular shape. Exceptions are rare. One of these is the Stotesbury emerald, one of the pieces put up for auction at Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels in New York on April 25. But the most surprising aspect is that, beside the rare hexagon-shaped this stone, there is a rather complicated and charming story. The 34.4 carat Colombian emerald, which has a sales estimate 800,000 to 1,2 million dollars, looks back on a path that began in 1908, when Cartier used it for a necklace intended heir of a mining empire, Evalyn Walsh McLean.
The emerald was combined with a diamond of 94.8 carats. Three years later, the Parisian house and Miss Walsh McLean, however, have started a dispute which ended in 1912 with emerald regained control of Cartier. Then the stone was purchased by Eva Stotesbury (hence the name), wife of a wealthy banker of Philadelphia. In 1946 the family sold the stone to the New York jeweler Harry Winston, which has mounted ring and sold it to Bonfils Stanton, another lady of high society. It was sold again and has been part of a private collection since 1971.
The emerald Stotesbury, in any case is not the only piece of rod class. There are, for example, 12 historic pieces of designer Louis Comfort by Tiffany. Or it should be noted a ring with a rare diamond from 1.64 carat Fancy Vivid Green, and a crossover ring set with two Fancy Vivid Blue diamond. Besides valuable piece are a pair of earrings with square emerald cut diamonds, both more than 20 carats and classified as D color, Internally Flawless, lla type with excellent finish and symmetry. Federico Graglia