Does your holiday shopping list include a jewelry lover or two? Christie’s Magnificent Jewels sale, taking place live (and online) at the auctioneer’s New York gallery at Rockefeller Center on December 6, could be your one-stop shop.
The house’s final live jewelry auction of the year leads with a couple of major colored diamonds: a 31.62-carat pear-shaped fancy blue diamond that is the largest fancy blue diamond ever to appear at auction (in a pendant-necklace estimated to fetch between $10 million and $15 million), and—drumroll, please!—a 13.15-carat emerald-cut fancy vivid pink diamond set in a simple platinum ring, estimated at $25 million to $35 million.
But that’s not all. Diamond lovers can choose between colorful stones in small packages (such as a platinum ring set with a 2.21-carat fancy intense blue oval brilliant-cut diamond, estimated at $1,200,000 to $1,800,000), or colorless, unapologetically oversized rocks, such as the diamond torque bangle bracelet set with a whopping 50-carat stone (a D color, internally flawless heart-shaped diamond, no less), estimated at $3,700,000 to $4,500,000.
Or they can bypass the choice altogether and opt for big and colorful with the De Beers Yellow, a 13.75-carat fancy vivid yellow, internally flawless emerald-cut diamond ($1,100,000 to $1,800,000).
The highlights also include another pendant necklace, this one featuring an 86.64-carat pear-shaped D color diamond ($5,000,000 to $7,000,000), and a palm-tree-shaped diamond brooch from Cartier (c. 1948) centered on a 13.30-carat brilliant-cut diamond, from the collection of the author, socialite and copper mining heiress Margaret Thompson Biddle ($500,000 to $700,000).
Beyond the big rocks, the sale is stacked with signed pieces from the likes of Bulgari, Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels.
For anyone captivated by provenance, check out Lot 52, a gem-set “Bouquet” brooch by Van Cleef that once belonged to the Argentinian first lady Eva “Evita” Perón. The Retro-style brooch, estimated at $60,000 to $80,000, was purchased from the auction of Evita’s personal collection in 1957, and has remained unworn, and in private hands, ever since.
Should you be passing through New York, it, along with the sale’s other highlights, will be on view at Christie’s from December 2 to 5.
