At $50 million, pink 'Legacy' diamond shines brightest in Christie's sale

GENEVA - The 'Pink Legacy', a diamond weighing just under 19 carats, fetched a record 50.375 million Swiss francs ($50 million) as it outshone all other auction lots at Christie's in Geneva on Tuesday.

Graded "vivid", the highest rating for a pink diamond's color, the gem is internally pure with a rectangular cut, and mounted on a platinum ring.

Once owned by the Oppenheimer Family, who built De Beers into the world's biggest diamond trader, the diamond had a pre-sale estimate of $30 to $50 million. The identity of the seller was not disclosed.

Vivid colored diamonds are the most strongly saturated gems, displaying the optimum hue of the stone. Most pink diamonds of this color weigh less than 1 carat, the auction house - which was holding its semi-annual jewellery sale - said.

Christie's said the 'Pink Legacy' achieved a new per-carat record for a pink diamond, and was the second most expensive one ever sold at auction.

($1 = 1.0073 Swiss francs)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Rare pink diamond aims to make $50 million

GENEVA, Switzerland - The Pink Legacy, an exceptionally large pink diamond, is set to go under the hammer at Christie's in Geneva next week, when it is expected to bring in up to $50 million.

At nearly 19 carats, the vividly colored gem is extraordinary, Jean-Marc Lunel, an international jewellery specialist at Christie's, told AFP.

"If you consider that most pink diamonds weigh less than a carat, it is really something," he said.

The gem, which on Nov. 13 will be offered at auction for the first time, has been estimated at between $30 million and $50 million (26.5-44.1 million euros), and Lunel suggested it could hit the high end of that range.

"It is probably the most beautiful (specimen) ever presented at public auction," he said, insisting there was good reason to expect the rock to snatch an extraordinary price.

The rectangular-cut diamond has been graded "fancy vivid" -- the highest possible grade of color intensity.

Christie's pointed out that in the salesroom, fancy vivid pink diamonds over 10 carats are "virtually unheard of" and that only 4 vivid pink diamonds or over 10 carats have ever been offered for sale at auction.

One of them, the nearly 15-carat Pink Promise, was sold last November at a Christie's auction in Hong Kong for $32.5 million. That amounts to $2.176 million per carat, which remains the world auction record price per carat for any pink diamond.

And in 2013, a huge pink diamond weighing 59.60 carats meanwhile went under the hammer at Sotheby's for $83 million, or $1.39 million per carat.

The Pink Legacy, set to headline Christie's annual Magnificent Jewels auction on Tuesday, used to belong to the Oppenheimer family, which for decades ran the De Beers diamond mining company, but Christie's refused to say who the current owner was.

It was discovered in a South African mine around a century ago, Lunel said.

"It was probably cut in the 1920s," he said, adding that it had not been altered since.

The classic rectangular cut is traditionally used for white stones, but is rare for pink diamonds.

"Imagine a domino that you have cut the corners off of," Lunel said, pointing out that the cut is a "classical so-called emerald cut", which stands out from the typical, more rounded, multi-faceted cuts used today.

Rahul Kadakia, Christie's international head of jewellery, meanwhile said in a statement in September that he expected The Pink Legacy to "cause immense excitement with collectors and connoisseurs of diamonds around the world".

"Its exceptional provenance will no doubt propel it into a class of its own as one of the world's greatest diamonds."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Sotheby's appraises Imelda Marcos' rare pink diamond

A rare barrel-shaped pink diamond was among the items in Imelda Marcos's jewelry collection appraised by Sotheby's on Friday in Manila.

A jewellery specialist from Sotheby's, Brett O'Connor, said the pieces, made of gem stones like diamonds, rubies and emeralds, were of high quality and good manufacture. Some appeared to be custom-made, while others were from a jeweller's stock, he said.

Manila may decide to auction the collections after the two leading auction houses -- Christie's and Sotheby's -- appraise three sets of jewellery confiscated from the Marcoses almost three decades ago.

"I think it bodes very favourably. It's a very wide and varied collection. So there's no reason to believe that it wouldn't do well at auction," O'Connor said, while refusing to disclose the recent valuation of the collections.

In 1991, the jewellery collections were valued at $6-8 million. O'Connor said some of the valuations may have increased or decreased based on fashion trends, colour and price of diamonds.

The collection appraised on Friday was seized in Hawaii, where the Marcos family was exiled.

Among the jewels was an pink diamond 24mm (15/16 inch) in diameter.

"Pink diamonds are always rare, rarer than white diamonds. The rarest is red, and then blue and green, and then pink, and then yellow, and then white. Yes, it's a rare thing, and it's a very large size, and it's a lovely old stone," O'Connor said.

Other items included a Cartier tiara, and full necklace-ring-earrings sets encrusted with precious stones like rubies, sapphires and emeralds.

The government tried to auction the jewellery in 2005, but the former beauty queen contested the move, claiming ownership of two of the collections -- one found in the presidential palace after the family's hasty departure in 1986 and the one confiscated in Hawaii.


Marcos, an elected member of Congress and best known for leaving behind more than 1,200 pairs of shoes when her family fled in 1986, has vowed to recover the family's seized assets. The government also confiscated a collection of paintings including Monets and a Picasso and is hunting for 200 missing art works.

Proceeds from a possible auction could go to human rights victims claiming compensation who filed cases against abuse under the Marcos regime, the Presidential Commission on Good Government said.

"I guess in a way it can be some sort of justice. Of course, it can never compensate what has happened to them (human rights victims). But one way or another, after 30 years, slowly, we're getting back what was taken from us."

Imelda's husband, Ferdinand, was president for nearly two decades, before he was ousted in an army-backed uprising in 1986. The dictator, who died in exile in 1989, was accused of amassing more than $10 billion while in office. The family denies their wealth was ill-gotten.

The government allowed the press to see and film some of the 750 pieces of the three collections, which were kept in a vault at the central bank.

Christie's and Sotheby's were invited by the Philippine government, and carried out the appraisal free of charge.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

World's top auction houses set to appraise Marcos jewelry

Representatives from the world's largest auction house are in Manila to appraise three sets of Marcos jewels which are stored at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

Christie's and Sotheby's are set to appraise the jewels including the Malacañang collection, which was abandoned when the Marcoses fled the Palace; the Hawaii collection, seized by the US Bureau of Customs upon the Marcoses' arrival in Hawaii in 1986; and the Roumeliotes collection that Demetriou Roumeliotes attempted to smuggle out of the country after the ouster of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

A 1991 assessment valued the three jewelry collections at 5 to 7 million dollars.

Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) Chair Richard Amurao said the appraisal is a significant step in determining the jewels' current value, which will also open the way for determining a final resolution on the assets.

- ANC, Market Edge, November 24, 2015

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Harper Lee letters flop at New York auction

NEW YORK, United States - Six letters written by US novelist Harper Lee flopped at auction Friday despite feverish interest in the publication of her second novel, set for release next month.

The typed letters sent from 1956-1961 to a close friend, New York architect Harold Caufield, shine a rare light into the personal thoughts of one of America's most reclusive but celebrated authors.

Christie's had valued the letters at $150,000 to $250,000, but there was no buyer and bidding stopped at $90,000, a spokeswoman for the auction house told AFP.

Lee's only published novel to date, the best-selling masterpiece "To Kill a Mockingbird," won the Pulitzer Prize for its tale of racial injustice in the Depression-era South.

Published in 1960, it has become standard reading in American classrooms and has been translated into more than 40 languages, as well as adapted into an Oscar-winning film starring Gregory Peck.

Lee, 89, lives as a recluse and it is exceptionally rare for her private writings to come onto the market.

Four of the letters were written before "Mockingbird" was published and detail her thoughts in caring for her adored father and the strains of life in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama.

In 1960, she wrote in raptures about the dazzling success of her novel -- "We were surprised, stunned and dazed by the Princeton Review," she said.

In one letter from 1956, she expresses her "longing" to return to writing in New York.

"I simply can't work here. Genius overcomes all obstacles, etc., and this is no excuse," she wrote.

She also has choice words for society in Monroeville.

"Sitting and listening to people you went to school with is excruciating for an hour -- to hear the same conversation day in and day out is better than the Chinese torture method," she wrote.

"It's enough to make you give up."

HarperCollins is to publish Lee's second novel, "Go Set a Watchman," on July 14.

The book is already a best-seller at online retail giant Amazon, where the 304-page hardback is available for pre-order.

The announcement earlier this year of its release set the literary world alight and delighted Lee's millions of fans, despite sparking speculation about whether she was of sound mind.

She wrote the manuscript in the mid-1950s and it was only recently re-discovered by her lawyer.

Deaf and suffering from poor eyesight, Lee lives in a nursing home.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Why this handbag broke auction records

A fuchsia-colored crocodile-skin Hermes bag has broken the record for the most expensive handbag sold at auction, selling for US$222,912 at a Christie's auction in Hong Kong.

The shiny pink bag was sold to an Asian phone bidder in an auction that saw "fast-paced bidding from start to finish", Christie's said in a statement late Monday.

The final price realized at the Monday auction was around 15 percent more than the auction house's estimate.

"With its 18k white gold and diamond hardware, Hermès Shiny Fuchsia Porosus Crocodile Diamond Birkin 35 dazzled the crowds, achieving a HK$1.72 million record," Christie's said in the statement.

The bag, part of the "Birkin" series named after actress and singer Jane Birkin, who was born in Britain and is based in France, features a gold and diamond-encrusted clasp and padlock and is 35 centimeters in width and 25 centimeters in height.

At the same auction that saw some 300 designer handbags going under the hammer, a shiny black crocodile "Kelly" bag was sold for US$145,000, breaking the record for the most expensive "Kelly" bag sold at auction.

The "Kelly" product line is named after the late Princess Grace of Monaco.

The auction house's Handbags and Accessories sale achieved $5.99 million in sales.

Designer handbags are the latest craze for collectors, taking global auction houses by storm and fetching record prices.

The previous record was set at the sale of another Hermes Birkin by an American auction house valued at around $203,000 in 2011.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com