A large fancy intense yellow diamond, known as the Love Stone, has commanded a hefty price at Sotheby’s latest auction in Geneva.
The 103-carat VS2 cushion-modified brilliant cut diamond returned $US2.48 million ($AU3.81 million) at auction.
The sale featured 158 items and returned $US46.5 million ($AU71.8 million), exceeding the low-presale estimate despite the late withdrawal of a 94-carat Paraiba tourmaline.
Head of Magnificent Jewels Geneva, Catharine Becket, told IDEX that these results confirm that collectors still have a strong appetite for rare and remarkable jewellery.
“For those with an eye for design, it was clear that high-impact jewels from the 1980s, in particular, are very much in the air du temps, with Italian firms Bulgari and Marina B grabbing the spotlight,” said.
Exceeding expectations
The sale of Viennese royal jewellery recently discovered in a bank vault in Germany returned $US10.7 million ($AU16.45 million).
Every item at the auction was sold, generating more than three times the pre-sale low estimate. More than 80 per cent of the items sold for more than the high pre-sale estimate.
The headline act was a pearl and diamond devant-de-corsage, sold for $US1.5 million ($AU2.31 million).
Dated to the Austrian Habsburg dynasty, more than 200 items of jewellery and gemstones were featured in the auction, many appearing in public for the first time in more than a century.
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