Displaying items by tag: emerald

In 1943, the Allied team known as the Monuments Men were instrumental in recovering roughly 3,500 artworks that were confiscated by the Nazis during World War II and stashed hidden in salt mines for the intended purpose of going toward Adolf Hitler's proposed Führermuseum in Linz.

Among those artistic treasures were about 250 of the finest jewels, decorative objects and paintings collected by Austria’s Baron and Baroness Alphonse and Clarice de Rothschild, which include an Art Deco emerald and diamond brooch that the Baron gave the Baroness on their 25th wedding anniversary.

Bonhams raked in a total of £4.2 million ($7.1 million) at its fine jewelry sale on April 30 in London, on the back of its top three lots doubling and tripling their estimates.

The star of the sale was an exquisite Colombian emerald ring, of 10.49 carats and set between diamond shoulders, that brought $610,039, or more than triple its high estimate.

A new world auction record price per carat for any sapphire was set tonight at Sotheby’s New York, when an Exceptional Platinum, Kashmir Sapphire and Diamond Ring sold for $5,093,000 / $180,731 per carat (est. $4/5 million). The square emerald-cut Kashmir sapphire weighing 28.18 carats is one of the finest sapphires ever to appear at auction, described by the American Gemological Laboratories (AGL) as “a gem of singular importance.”

On April 16, Christie’s Magnificent Jewels Sale in New York fetched a total of $60.6 million. The top lot was a pair of round, D-color internally flawless diamonds, weighing 22.60 and 22.31 carats, which brought $8.6 million. The two-session sale featured more than 250 jewels.

The auction included the collection of animal welfare advocates Riki and Jerome Shaw. All of the proceeds from this portion of the sale, which totaled $8.6 million, were donated to cage-free animal shelters. Highlights from the Shaws’ collection included a 6.1-carat, rectangular-cut fancy intense pink diamond ring by Harry Winston, which netted $5.8 million and a Burmese ruby and diamond ring that fetched $1.3 million.

The Magnificent Jewels auction also included the private collection of Kathleen and Martin Field, which garnered over $6 million. The lot included a 20.10-carat rectangular-cut, D-color, VVS1 diamond by Harry Winston that sold for more than $2.4 million and a 42.88-carat rectangular-cut Colombian emerald and diamond brooch by Harry Winston that realized over $1.3 million.

Christie’s next Magnificent Jewels auction will take place on May 14 in Geneva. The sale will feature The Blue, the largest flawless vivid blue diamond in the world, as well as The Ocean Dream, the largest vivid blue-green diamond in the world.

Before her death in 2007, Brooke Astor was a fixture in New York City’s elite inner circle. A tireless philanthropist and champion of the arts, Astor left behind a legacy marked by kindness, generosity, and good taste.

Sotheby’s has announced an auction of the contents of two of Astor’s estates – her legendary Park Avenue duplex and her country estate, Holly Hill, in Briarcliff Manor, NY. A total of 901 items including European and Asian furnishings, Old Master paintings, Qing Dynasty paintings, tea sets, silverware, jewelry, a porcelain menagerie, and over 100 dog paintings will head to the auction block September 24–25. Per Astor’s request, proceeds from the sale will go to the institutions and causes she held dear including the New York Public Library, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Bronx Zoo, Central Park, the Animal Medical Center of New York, New York City’s public school system, and a number of charities in Maine. Sotheby’s expects the sale to bring in between $6 and $9 million for the entire collection.

An icon of New York society and refinement, Astor spent her final years suffering from dementia. After her death at 105, her estate remained in limbo due a family dispute that lasted five years. The feud ended in March of 2012 and $100 million of Astor’s estate was freed for her charities. The amount going to Anthony Marshall, her only son, was cut by more than half as he was convicted of taking advantage of his mother’s deteriorating mental state and altering her will to his advantage.

Among the most coveted of Astor’s pieces that will be headed to Sotheby’s are an Imperial Chinese gilt-bronze lion clock slated to bring in around $180,000–$220,000 and an emerald and diamond necklace with earrings estimated at $280,000– $390,000 for both.