101-Carat Diamond Fetches $5 Million

The top lot at Christie’s Important Jewels auction held Wednesday was a 101.36-carat, cushion-cut, L-color, VS2 diamond that sold for $4.98 million, or $49,100 per carat. The diamond, worn as a necklace, is suspended by a black silk cord with pavé-set diamonds mounted in platinum (pictured above).

In a slight turn of events, seven of the top 10 lots from the sale were colorless diamonds with five of the items selling for more than $1 million (including commission and fees). In recent years, fancy colored diamonds have been stealing the spotlight, achieving record-breaking sales.

Other top lots in the sale included the following:

* A diamond necklace featuring a detachable pendant K-color faint brown VVS1 Potentially Internally Flawless diamond pendant weighing 81.38 carats that sold for $3.19 million. Two other detachable diamonds weigh 15.30 and 7.04 carats, spaced by circular-cut diamonds. The necklace is designed as a line of 17 circular-cut diamonds, the largest weighing 15.46 carats, spaced by rectangular and square-cut diamonds, mounted in 18k white gold (pictured above).

* A 23.89-carat rectangular-cut, H-color, Potentially Internally Flawless diamond mounted in platinum ring that sold for $1.56 million, or 65,500 per carat.

* A 16.07-carat rectangular-cut F-color, Potentially Internally Flawless diamond on a ring set within a circular-cut and pear-shaped diamond surround, to the pear-shaped diamond shoulders, mounted in platinum, with maker's mark that sold for $1.5 million, or $93,700 per carat.

* In addition to diamonds, a Ceylon sapphire and diamond of 63.65 carats on a ring, flanked on either side by a half-moon diamond, mounted in platinum by Tiffany & Co. sold for $587,000, smashing its high estimate of $150,000.

All totaled, the sale of 347 lots fetched $33.7 million, with 75 percent sold by lot and 77 percent sold by value.

“Fine quality colorless diamonds achieved strong prices with international bidding,” said Rahul Kadakia, International Head of Christie’s Jewelry. “Collectors also bid competitively for natural pearls and special jeweled objects such as the Art Deco fish bowl clock, by Black, Starr, and Frost, which realized $137,000 against a pre-sale estimate of $15,000.”