2017 Auction Round Up:
Pink and Blue Fancy Coloured Diamonds Still Rule

Russell Shor

January 19, 2018

More than $1.1 billion (£800 million) worth of extreme top-end diamonds, coloured gems and jewellery were sold at auction by the world’s most renowned houses in 2017. While sales results at the two main auction houses, Christie’s and Sotheby’s, were strong, buyers were discerning, especially in the second half of the year when a number of important lots went unsold.

Christie’s sold $556.7 million (£405.3 million) worth of jewellery worldwide, $8.9 million (£6.5 million) in online auctions. Sotheby’s did not formally announce its yearly jewellery sales, but a tally of sales from the company's website totalled about $552 million (£402 million).

The biggest news was the 4 April sale of the Pink Star diamond by Sotheby’s Hong Kong, which set a world price record for a gemstone at auction. The 59.60 ct Fancy Vivid pink Internally Flawless stone was the largest diamond of those grades ever graded by GIA and achieved the record price of $71.2 million (£51.8 million). The buyer was Chow Tai Fook, the large Hong Kong-based retail jewellery chain. 

While the diamond set a record, it had been sold by Sotheby’s nearly two years earlier for over $83 million (£60 million). The buyer, however, was unable to find the money to make the purchase, obliging the auction house to buy it in for a reported $70 million (£51 million).

The Pink Star’s record price, however, was a relatively low $1.2 million (£870,000) per carat, which was less than half the per carat cost of similarly graded diamonds offered at auction in recent years. For example, the 24.78 ct Graff Pink sold in 2010 for more than $1.8 million (£1.3 million) per carat, and the 14.93 ct Pink Promise sold this year for $2.13 million (£1.55 million) per carat.

The highest bids throughout the year went, as usual, to large fancy coloured diamonds – mostly pink and blue. Both colours were represented in a $57.4 million (£41.8 million) earring set offered by Sotheby’s at its 16 May auction in Geneva. The 16 ct Artemis Pink, a GIA-graded Fancy Intense pink, sold for $15.3 million (£11.1 million), while the 14.54 ct Apollo Blue, a GIA-graded Fancy Vivid blue, went for $42.1 million (£30.6 million).

The Pink Promise, a 14.93 ct Fancy Vivid pink diamond, sold for $32.16 million (£23.41 million) at Christie’s 28 Nov Hong Kong sale. Interestingly, the GIA-graded diamond had been recut from a 16.1 ct Fancy Intense pink. The seller, New York dealer Stephen Silver, told CNN after the sale that he wanted to improve the colour grade of the diamond that had been first cut about 15 years ago.

Christie’s chairman for Europe and Asia, Francois Curiel said it was a strong year overall.

“Trade buyers were more active this past year, but both private collectors and dealers were consistent, active bidders,” he noted. Asian buyers remained the “dominant force” in buying top gems, he said, noting that world events, such as the surge of Bitcoin and the unsettled currency markets from Brexit, have not had any noticeable effect on the auction market.

Other fancy coloured diamonds sold this year include:

• the 19.07 ct Fancy Light pink Le Grand Manzarin, which had been part of the French crown jewels, for $14.5 million (£10.6 million)
• an 8.67 ct Fancy Intense blue, for $13.2 million (£9.6 million)
• a 7.97 ct Fancy Intense blue, for $12.7 million (£9.2 million)
• a twin stone Fancy Vivid blue pair, 3.36 ct and 2.71 ct, for $12.6 million (£9.17 million)
• an 8.8 ct Fancy Intense pink diamond, flanked in a ring mount by two smaller Fancy blue diamonds, for $9.7 million (£7.1 million)

And, wrapping up the year, an anonymous buyer paid $15.1 million (£11 million) for a 5.69 ct GIA-graded Fancy Vivid blue diamond at Sotheby’s 5 Dec auction.

Major colourless diamonds were scarcer on the auction block this year, but two notable gems were sold:

• The La Legende, a 92.18 ct heart-shaped D Flawless, that drew nearly $15 million (£10.9 million) at Christie’s May Geneva sale.
• The Art of De Grisogono Creation 1, a 163.41 ct D flawless, rectangle cut that was mounted on an emerald and diamond necklace that sold for $33.7 million (£24.5 million), a record price for a colourless diamond at auction. The per-carat price of $209,000 (£152,000) is high for a large D flawless but not a record. The GIA-graded diamond was cut from the 404 carat “4 February” rough found in Angola’s Lulo Mine by Lucapa Diamond Company.

Coloured gemstones also attained some extreme, if not quite record high, prices. An Asian buyer paid $10.5 million (£7.6 million) for a 13.26 ct untreated Burmese ruby on 3 Oct at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, while Christie’s sold a 15.03 ct untreated Burmese ruby for $12.94 million/£9.42 million ($861,000/£627,000 per carat) at its May Geneva auction.

An old-line name, Harry Winston Inc., paid $5.5 million/£4 million ($305,000/£222,000 per carat) for an emerald carrying a lot of history: the 18.04 ct Rockefeller Emerald, offered at Christie’s 20 June 20 New York auction. John D. Rockefeller Jr. purchased this Colombian emerald for his wife, Abby, in 1930.

Jade always tops the gemstone bill at the Hong Kong auctions and, in November, a buyer at Christie’s paid $12.3 million (£8.95 million) for a jadeite bead bracelet accented with diamonds and a small ruby.

Buyers weren’t in the mood to take everything. The 37.3 ct Fancy Intense pink Raj Pink diamond, offered by Sotheby’s at its November Geneva sale, failed to sell. Bidding started at $10 million (£7.3 million), but halted at $14 million (£10 million), less than half of the high pre-sale estimate. Also, Sotheby’s promoted a 110.92 ct L colour VSI clarity diamond as the largest round brilliant ever to come to auction at the 5 Dec New York auction, but the diamond did not find a bidder willing to meet its pre-sale estimate of $4.2 million (£3.1 million).

Royal provenance is not a key to an automatic sale. Sotheby’s offered two Fancy Intense yellow diamonds, 102.54 cts and 82.47 cts respectively, at its 15 Nov Hong Kong auction with a pre-sale price estimate of $9-14 million (£6.5-10 million). The pair of diamonds had belonged to La Pavia, Countess Henckel von Donnersmarck, who in 1851 was married briefly to a Portuguese titled family. La Pavia was a courtesan and hotelier in Paris who eventually married Count Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck, a Prussian industrialist. The diamonds previously sold to a collector for $8 million (£6 million) in 2007, but failed to find a buyer at this sale.

Additionally, a well-publicised 5.15 ct Fancy Deep blue diamond offered on 3 Oct at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong, failed to meet its expected price of $7-9.6 million (£5-7 million).