Red-hot diamond on block at Sotheby's Australia

source : nationaljewelernetwork.com
April 01, 2010

The 0.82-carat center stone of this ring will mark the first red diamond to be offered for public auction in Australia. The ring is estimated at as much as $921,556 and also features fancy blue diamonds and brilliant-cut colorless diamonds set in platinum.

Sydney, Australia--Sotheby's Australia's upcoming April 12 sale of antique and contemporary jewelry will be a significant one for the auction house. The event will mark the Australian branch's first standalone jewelry sale, with the highlight slated to be the first red diamond ever offered for public auction in Australia.

The 0.82-carat, fancy purplish-red Argyle diamond is set into a ring and is flanked by a pair of fancy blue diamonds in a round brilliant-cut diamond surround, all mounted in platinum. Its value is estimated at between 700,000 and 1 million Australian dollars (between about $645,065 and $921,556) and will be accompanied by a letter from Argyle Diamonds attesting to its rarity.

Sotheby's said in a media release that despite the notable discovery of the Argyle pink diamond deposits in Western Australia, less than a handful of red diamonds have been discovered, and connoisseurs have long considered red diamonds to be among the most precious and rare of diamonds.

The April 12 sale will offer even more superb examples of colored stones, including a double strand of graduated emerald beads accented with diamond-set rondelles (estimated between $9,676 and $11,519), a sapphire and diamond ring (estimated between $23,034 and $32,248) and an emerald and diamond ring (estimated between $64,497 and $82,907). ...

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Famous Emeralds

Gachala Emerald (origin: Colombia)
The Gachala Emerald is an uncut 5-cm emerald crystal weighing 858 carats (172 g). The stone was found in 1967 at Vega de San Juan mine in Colombia and is named after the mining district where it was discovered. Now in the United States, it was donated to the Smithsonian Institution by the New York jeweler, Harry Winston.



Chalk Emerald (origin: Colombia)
The Chalk Emerald is a 37.82 carats (7.56 g) Colombian emerald.

It originally weighed 38.40 carats (7.68 g), but was recut and set in a ring, where it is surrounded by sixty pear-shaped diamonds (totalling 15 carats (3.0 g), by Harry Winston Inc. The ring is housed in the National Gem and Mineral Collection at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in the United States and was donated to the museum by Mr. and Mrs. O. Roy Chalk in 1972.

Duke of Devonshire Emerald (origin: Colombia)

The Duke of Devonshire Emerald gets its name from the 6th Duke of Devonshire, William Cavendish, who according to one version, received the enormous gemstone as a gift from the first emperor of Brazil, Don Pedro I, the son of King John VI of Portugal, but according to a second version purchased the gemstone from the emperor.

The Duke of Devonshire Emerald is a terminated hexagonal-shaped crystal discovered from the mines of Muzo, Santa Fe de Bogota, in Colombia, reputed to be the premier source of the world's finest emeralds. It is an exceptional deep-green emerald, with perfect transparency in certain areas, but heavily flawed in other areas. The emerald that measures 5 cm across the pinacoid also has a height of about 5 cm, and weighs 1,383.95 carats. The emerald had a reputation as the largest and finest uncut emerald in existence.

Mackay Emerald
The stunning 167.97-carat Mackay Emerald was mined in Muzo, Columbia. The largest cut emerald in the National Gem Collection, it is set in an Art Deco diamond and platinum necklace designed by Cartier Inc. In 1931, Clarence H. Mackay presented the necklace as a wedding gift to his wife, Anna Case, a prima donna of the New York Metropolitan Opera from 1909 to 1920. The piece was donated to the Smithsonian Institute by Mrs. Anna Case Mackay in 1984. Source: The National Gem Collection by Jeffrey E. Post.

A Storied Name in Jewelry Makes a Comeback

source : nytimes.com
By JULIA WERDIGIER
Published: September 9, 2009

A firebird brooch from the Fabergé jewelry collection.

LONDON — Fabergé, jeweler to the last Russian czar and creator of the legendary Imperial Easter eggs, made a comeback of sorts Wednesday when it presented its first jewelry collection in more than 90 years, even as other luxury goods makers are bracing for a tough year.

The collection is the result of a two-year effort by Fabergé’s owners, a group of investors led by the British private-equity firm Pallinghurst Resources, to revive the brand by reuniting it with two heirs of the Fabergé family.

The firm also assembled a management and design team that includes Mark Dunhill, former president of Alfred Dunhill, a leather and accessories maker owned by the Swiss luxury goods company Richemont, and Frédéric Zaavy, an avant-garde Parisian jeweler. ...

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De Beers' 'Millenium Blue' sells for $6 million

April 08, 2010

Hong Kong--A 5.16-carat fancy vivid blue diamond, once part of De Beers' Millennium Jewels Collection, sold for $6.4 million at Sotheby's Hong Kong on Wednesday, as diamonds continued to show strength in the auction market.

According to a news release from the auction house, Moussaieff of London emerged as the winning bidder for the pear-shaped diamond, which sold for well over its estimated sale price of $4.1 million to $5.1 million following "intense" bidding.

The sought-after stone was once one of the 11 blue diamonds in the Millennium Jewels Collection, a group of rare diamonds selected by Andrew Coxon, president of the De Beers Institute of Diamonds, to mark the turn of the millennium.

Wednesday's sale of the 5.16-carat millennium blue marks the first time one of these stones has been put up for sale since the diamonds were placed with private collectors in 2000.

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In Pictures: America's Most Popular Diamond Cuts

Round

With one out of every three diamonds sold in the U.S. being a classic round brilliant diamond, this cut is far and away the most popular.

Scarlett Johansson and singer Fergie both sport classic rounds.
Princess

The princess diamond was created in 1980 but has catapulted into massive popularity, making it the second-most popular diamond cut in the U.S. Diamond analyst Kenneth Gassman estimates that princess cut diamonds make up approximately 13% to 20% of diamond sales.

Freddie Prinze Jr. proposed to Sarah Michelle Gellar with a princess cut.

Emerald

The third-most popular cut has long clear "step cuts," which emphasize the diamond's clarity and gives it a more subtle appearance than the "brilliant" cuts of most diamonds.

Nick Cannon proposed to Mariah Carey with a reported $2.5 million emerald-cut diamond.

Pear Shape

The pear shape, the fifth-most popular diamond, is also called a "tear drop" for its single point and rounded end.

The most famous pear-shaped diamond has to be the 69-carat pear-shaped diamond given to Elizabeth Taylor by her fifth and sixth husband Richard Burton. Taylor wore the Taylor-Burton diamond in a necklace.


Asscher

The Asscher cut has been around for a century but soared in popularity, especially in Hollywood, after being featured in an episode of Sex and the City in which nice-guy Aidan proposed to protagonist Carrie Bradshaw.

Kate Hudson and Elizabeth Hurley were both given Asscher cuts by their soon-to-be husbands.

Source: Kenneth Gassman, The Diamond Source of Virginia, Blue Nile.
source : http://forbeslife.nl/2009/04/17/engagement-weddings-diamonds-forbes-woman-style-retail_slide.html?partner=contextstory