The Eye of Golconda, an impressive necklace built around two D-flawless diamonds that was predicted to fetch as much as $10 million at the Christie’s jewelry auction last week, did not sell, company officials said.
The piece, the headline offering at the auction house’s Hong Kong Magnificent Jewels sale on May 27, featured a 40.5 ct. D-color internally flawless diamond from the famed Golconda mine, as well as a 6.76 ct. D-internally flawless Golconda diamond up top.
“There was interest up to $7.2 million,” François Curiel, chairman of Christie’s Asia Pacific, tells JCK. “But the vendor insisted on $8.5 million, so we did not sell it.”
The auction did set two world records. The sale’s top lot, a pair of pear-shaped D-color, flawless type IIa diamond ear pendants, which weighed 25.49 cts. and 25.31 cts., sold for $9.7 million, or $191,746 a carat, to an Asian private buyer. That is a world-record auction price for a pair of diamond ear pendants.
Courtesy Christie’s
The pear-shaped D-color, flawless type IIa diamond ear pendants
In addition, a 6.13 ct. cushion-cut fancy-intense green diamond, VS2 clarity, sold for $3.64 million, or $594,510 per carat, a record auction price for an intense green.
Courtesy Christie’s
The 6.13 ct. cushion-cut fancy-intense green diamond
The sale’s second-highest grossing lot was a ring featuring a 9.38 ct. pear-shaped fancy-intense pink, which fetched $5.97 million, or $636,117 a carat.
Courtesy Christie’s
The 9.38 ct. pear-shaped fancy-intense pink
Overall, the sale realized $91.4 million. Some 81 percent of lots were sold by lot; 73 percent were sold by value.
Follow JCK on Instagram: @jckmagazineFollow JCK on Twitter: @jckmagazine
Follow JCK on Facebook: @jckmagazine
