The ultra-rare “Apollo and Artemis” diamond earrings made history when they sold for US$57,425,478 at Sotheby’s Geneva, the auction house announced.
The blue and pink diamonds are now the most valuable pair of earrings ever sold at auction, according to Sotheby’s.
Sotheby’s inaugural sale of Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Geneva saw dynamic bidding on the phone, online and onsite, raising a total of US$151,546,458. More than 90 percent of the lots were sold, of which two-thirds reached prices in excess of the high estimate with multiple records including an auction record for a fancy intense purplish pink diamond selling for US$13,245,750 as well as a record price per-carat of US$1,881,499.
Apollo and Artemis
The Apollo Blue is a pear-shaped fancy vivid blue diamond of outstanding colour and purity weighing 14.54 carats. It is mounted as an earring with a pear-shaped and a brilliant-cut diamond.
Citing a Gemological Institute of America (GIA) report, Sotheby’s commented, “The 14.54-carat pear brilliant diamond has been determined to be a Type IIB diamond. Type IIB diamonds are very rare in nature (from our experience, less than one half of one percent) and contain small amounts of boron that can give rise to a blue or grey colouration. Historically, the ancient mines of India produced occasional blue diamonds but today the most significant source is limited to the Cullinan (formerly Premier) Mine in South Africa.”
The Artemis Pink, meanwhile, is a pear-shaped fancy intense pink diamond of fine colour weighing 16.00 carats.
“According to the GIA Laboratory, the 16.00 carat pPear modified brilliant diamond has been determined to be a Type IIA diamond. Type IIA diamonds are the most chemically pure type of diamond and often have exceptional optical transparency. Type IIA diamonds were first identified as originating from India (particularly from the Golconda region) but have since been recovered in all major diamond-producing regions of the world.”
Apollo fetched US$42,597,187 while Artemis sold for US$15,523,997.
[Source:- jewellerynewsasia]