Sotheby’s Geneva November Sale Lowest In 10 Years!

A much disappointing sales event took place on November 13, 2019 in Geneva. Sotheby’s ended up selling CHF 53,382,275, its lowest sales figure since 2010. It also represents a 62% drop from the highest ever sold in November in Geneva by the auction house ( November 2015 had CHF 139,561,250 in sales). Only 8 items sold for above CHF 1 million.

The highest valued Fancy Color Diamond was the 6.03 carat, Fancy Intense Purple-Pink diamond with a VVS2 clarity. It was valued at between $2.5 million to $3.5 million and ended up selling for $3,354,196 or $556,251 per carat. The bottom of the diamond is wider than normal including a thicker girdle. Most likely this has helped keep the diamond above 6 carat in weight.

Although we focus on Fancy graded diamond, This 14.69 carat very light blue diamond is worth mentioning. It was valued between $404k to $606k in total and ended up selling for $1,293,184 or $88k per carat, over twice its high estimates.

A 1.16 carat, Fancy Deep Blue diamond failed to sell after its estimate was between $910k to $1.2 million or $784k to $1.05 million per carat. It did not reach the minimum; I am not surprised. Some options suggest that a Fancy Deep blue is valued as much as a Fancy Vivid Blue diamond, which is incorrect. A Fancy Deep Blue diamond is valued much less than a Fancy Vivid Blue diamond.

A 3.03 carat Fancy Vivid Blue diamond with an SI1 clarity also did not sell, yet when we review the auction house list, the item was removed. I will address this in another article which will focus on transparency. It was item 413, which is no longer listed. It is mentioned that 453 lots were offered at the auction yet only 444 shown results appear. The 3.03 carat Fancy Vivid Blue diamond had a high estimate of $1.56 million per carat value, yet it did not reach the minimum allowed bid.

Next, we will report on Sotheby’s New York auction on December 10th.