Sotheby’s Hong Kong Magnificent Jewels & Jadeite Highlights

The month of October will be a very interesting one for jewelry sellers and buyers in Hong Kong. An incredible sixteen items will be auctioned off with a $1 million value or more at the Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels & Jadeite auction to a bevy of excited buyers. It is astounding but over 8% of the items have a value of over $1 million, quite a feat considering that the proportion of such valuable items at auctions is never usually so large. All that this information can do is signify to the discerning mind that the market is looking for unique and expensive items.

Traditional Jadeite

It is a tradition that at a Hong Kong auction, the main items offered are of Jadeite. The top lot in this auction is a unique Jadeite bangle bracelet. It is valued at a final sales price between $6.4 million and over $9 million. This is quite an impressive price to pay, even for such rarity.

 

Jadeite bangle Sothebys HK 2016

The Jadeite bangle bracelet     Image credit: Sotheby’s

 

In 2014, Sotheby’s sold a Jadeite bangle in Hong Kong for a then record price of $5,239,920. It seems that even if this bangle is sold for the minimum valuation that the auction house has predicted, it would still be a 22%+ increase in value. If sold for the high estimates, it would garner a 71%+ increase in value. It remains to be seen how high buyers are willing to go and we look forward to finding out.

 

Jadeite bangle Sothebys 2014

The Jadeite bangle bracelet that was sold in 2014      Image credit: Sotheby’s

Fancy Color Diamonds Highlights

During this auction, a very fine and unique Fancy Intense Purple-Pink diamond will be offered. The 6.59 carat pear shaped diamond has an extremely rare clarity of Internally Flawless, which makes it even more appealing to buyers in addition to its amazing color and impressive size. The IF clarity has been able to significantly add value to pink diamonds at past auctions and there is no reason to believe it will not contribute likewise. The diamond has been evaluated at to sell at a price between $5.3 million and $6.4 million, or between $802k and $978k per carat.

 

6.59 carat fancy intense purple-pink diamond ring

The 6.59 carat Fancy Intense Purple-Pink pear shaped diamond ring      Image credit: Sotheby’s

 

Let’s take a look at several comparable pink diamonds sold at auction for perspective and comparison.
The current world record per carat for a Fancy Intense Pink diamond is still held by the Graff Pink diamond. The 24.78 carat diamond sold for over $46 million back in 2010, or $1.862 million per carat. Although it is not a purple-pink diamond like the diamond presently at auction, it is the reigning diamond in this category.

 

the graff pink

The 24.78 carat Fancy Intense Pink ‘Graff Pink’ diamond          Image credit: Sotheby’s

 

A closer comparison might be the 10.07 carat Fancy Intense Purple-Pink diamond with a VS1 clarity that was sold on April 20, 2016 at a Christie’s New York auction. It earned $878k per carat and our diamond stands to break the record by a large margin.

 

The 10.07 carat Fancy Intense Purple-Pink VS1 diamond ring

The 10.07 carat Fancy Intense Purple-Pink VS1 diamond ring          Image credit: Christie’s

 

In the 5-10 carat pink diamond size category, the record price is $1.314 million per carat. The diamond in question is a 6.54 carat Fancy Intense Pink diamond ring that sold back on December 5, 2012.

 

6.54 carat fancy intense pink diamond

The 6.54 carat Fancy Intense Pink diamond          Image credit: Sotheby’s

 

We will not be surprised if the pink diamond at the Hong Kong auction breaks the $1 million per carat price, for 2 main reasons:

1) It is extremely rare to see a pink diamond of such size and clarity in the market. There might be another 2-3 available in the world today, if they are for sale. Such a tiny supply for something in such high demand amounts to a large final sale price.

2) We have seen sustainability of these prices in recent auctions for lower clarity pink diamonds. It is reasonable to deduce that a much larger diamond will gain a similar if not much greater price per carat.

 

6.59 carat fancy intense purple-pink diamond

The 6.59 carat Fancy Intense Purple-Pink pear shaped diamond        Image credit: Sotheby’s

Superb Fancy Vivid Yellow Diamonds

During 2016 yellow diamonds in general have shown softening in prices, and are still somewhat new for the general consumer market. However, Fancy Vivid Yellow diamonds, especially those over 5 carats in size, have shown strong price stability with modest gain.

Sotheby’s is offering a 10.81 carat Fancy Vivid Yellow VS2 oval shaped diamond in Hong Kong. As we know, the most critical element here is color depth. Based on the given value of $1.1 million to $1.55 million or $102k to $143k per carat, it is clear that the color is strong and unique. We have seen Fancy Vivid Yellow diamonds sell for much less at auction, such as the 75 carat Fancy Vivid Yellow diamond that was sold in a New York auction last year for about $45k per carat. However, we have also seen yellow diamonds sell for much more, such as the 100.09 carat Graff Yellow, also sold in recent years for $163k per carat.

 

10.81 carat fancy vivid yellow vs2 diamond

10.81 carat Fancy Vivid Yellow VS2 Oval shaped diamond        Image credit: Sotheby’s

A Glimpse at Red Diamonds

Red diamonds are one of the rarest color diamonds in the world. They are exquisite and very sought after by both diamond collectors and investors alike.

There are very few notable Fancy Red diamonds available in the world, making them especially important and desired by many.
A unique item is being offered this auction is a diamond brooch containing three red diamonds, aptly named the “Red Scarlet Trio”. Together, the red diamonds total 1.10 carats. This includes one that is 0.40 carat with SI1 clarity, one that is 0.39 carats with VS2 clarity, and one that is 0.31 carats with VS1 clarity.  This item was already sold last year at a Sotheby’s auction in Hong Kong on October 7, 2015. It was sold back then for $552,248 total, when the estimate was $451k to $516k total. This year, Sotheby’s is giving the same estimate. We shall see what impact a single year can have on red diamond value and whether the item can exceed Sotheby’s estimate again and by how much.

 

red scarlet trio brooch

The Red Scarlet Trio         Image credit: Sotheby’s

 

Which Fancy Color Diamond attracts your attention the most? Would you buy it as a diamond investment? Tell us in the comments!

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