Magnificent Jewels
You can’t keep New York City down. Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels auction of big, bold and glamorous jewels fetched $37.5 Million dollars on Wednesday, June 8th.
The Iive auction rocked important diamonds, exceptional colored gemstones and iconic designs from private collections. The finest jewelry houses in the world from Bulgari, Van Cleef and Arpels, Harry Winston, Cartier and David Webb were going, going gone in lots.
Outside the Manhattan weather hovered at 90 degrees. Poised on the upper Eastside, the auction house was cold as ice.The Sotheby’s auctioneer had the cool hand as fierce bidding streamed in via online, phone and in person from over 30 countries.
The show stopping necklace featuring a phenomenal 168 carats of diamonds by Andrew Clunn sold for $4.1 Million. ‘The Sienna Star’, a 73-carat Fancy Vivid Yellow Diamond Ring by Glenn Spiro fetched a 3.4 million establishing a record high for the jeweler at auction.
The auction boasted coveted designs including the iconic “Zip Antique Udaipur” necklace designed by Van Cleef & Arpels, exemplary Art Deco jewels and a remarkable Egyptian-revival necklace made by Cartier.
The provenance of the original owners was a dramatic as a Broadway show. The auction presented the private collections of American actress Rhonda Fleming, known as the “Queen of Technicolor,” the estate of Mary Ethel Weinmann and Miami-based Philanthropist Patricia Wallace. Madame Wallace offered three panther-inspired jewels to benefit Panthera, the global wild cat conservation organization, committed to ensuring a future for the world’s 40 species of wild cats and the landscapes on which they depend.
An ode to the city we love, Sotheby’s Luxury Week is on and we are here for it.
Images Courtesy of Sothebys
