Re -Train Your Brain To Happiness: White diamond set to fetch record $39 million at Sotheby's auction

I have several posts on diamonds and other jewellery on this blog. I enjoy keeping up with these things.

Like so many of the stories about diamonds I have posted I am pretty sure this will sell for more than this estimate of $39 million!

I was wrong! It sold for $32.5 million.

A NEW York auction house is showing off what it calls the world's greatest white diamond on the block - a 118-carat stone from Africa the size of a small egg.

The oval diamond glistened in its glass case today at Sotheby's Manhattan headquarters, not yet mounted after it was mined and cut two years ago.

It will be auctioned in Hong Kong on October 7 and has a pre-sale estimate of $US28 million ($31.1m) to $US35m ($38.85m).

In terms of size, quality, polish and colour, "this is the greatest white diamond we've ever had the privilege to sell," said Quek Chin Yeow, deputy chairman of Sotheby's Asia and an international diamond expert.

The stone was discovered in 2011 as a 299-carat rough diamond in a southern African country whose name Sotheby's declined to disclose.

When asked why they could not give the exact source, auction house officials said the owner wished to remain anonymous and that was the agreement.

The current record for any white diamond is $US26.7m.

That pear-shaped stone was over 101 carats. It was sold at Christie's in Geneva last year. Three other white diamonds over 100 carats were auctioned by Sotheby's: in 1990, 1993 and 1995.

The white stone is part of a lineup of jewels up for auction that also includes a flawless, round, vivid blue diamond, worth an estimated $US19m at 7.6 carats. It's the largest, most significant such diamond graded by the Gemological Institute of America.

The reason these stones were going on the block in Hong Kong, Quek said, was that it had become a centre for jewellery sales and it was there that the $US1.7m record price per carat for vivid blue diamonds was set - with the sale of a six-carat blue diamond for $US10.2m in 2011.

Blue diamonds - more rare than white ones - are from the same colour family as the famed Hope Diamond, though a different hue.

The Hope Diamond, which belongs to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, is not for sale.

Story and picture:with many thanks to The Australian

The Hope diamond, above, is considered one of the ‘cursed diamonds’.

Picture credit: The Smithsonian Museum.

Other diamonds I have mentioned before are the The Taylor-Burton Diamond and other outstanding jewels once belonging to Dame Elizabet Taylor,the Beau Sancy, the Botswana Diamond, and the Archduke Joseph Diamond and the Argyle Siren.

And, of course, the Bahia Emerald!

October 8th.

A WHITE diamond the size of a small egg has sold for $32.5 million at a Hong Kong auction.

However a blue diamond that was the sale's other highlight, with a $20 million estimate, failed to sell.

Two phone bidders competed for the 118-carat white diamond from Africa in six minutes of measured bidding until one dropped out in the Sotheby's jewellery auction, part of fall sales of art and collectibles by the firm and its rivals.

The twice-yearly ritual in the southern Chinese city draws wealthy collectors from mainland China and other Asian countries and has made the city one of the world's busiest auction hubs.

The “flawless” white oval diamond, mined and cut two years ago, was hammered down for $29 million, just under the low end of the estimate range set by Sotheby's. Total price including commission came to $32.5 million.

That was more than the previous record of $28.3 million for a white diamond set in May at Christie's in Geneva.

The stone, which weighed 299 carats when it was found in the rough in 2011, is the largest and most significant such diamond graded by the Gemological Institute of America. Sotheby's says it was discovered in southern Africa but won't name the country because the seller wishes to remain anonymous.

The auction's other highlight, a 7.6-carat flawless, round, vivid blue diamond which had an estimate of $20 million, failed to reach its reserve price.

The two gems were among 330 lots of rare jewellery that fetched a total of $100.9 million, $16 million less than expected.

“Hong Kong has in the last few years pulled itself up alongside Geneva and New York as one of the three major selling centres at auction” for diamonds, said Quek Chin Yeow, deputy chairman of Sotheby's Asia and an international diamond expert.

But he added that the results should not be taken as an indicator of how wealthy Asians are being affected by economic trends such as China's slowdown. That's because such stratospheric prices can only be afforded by the super rich, who he said are mostly immune from such fluctuations.

The world record price for a jewel at auction was set in 2010, when London jeweler Laurence Graff paid $48.8 million for a “fancy intense pink” diamond weighing 24.8 carats.

That record could be blown away in November, when Sotheby's puts a pink 59.60-carat diamond on the block that's expected to fetch more than $63 million in Geneva.

With thanks to The Australian (pay wall)