Editor’s Note
This dispatch from Geneva details how vibrant red and green gemstones commanded the spotlight and the highest prices at a recent Phillips auction, led by a magnificent Burmese ruby.
Geneva—Color dominated at Phillips’ jewelry auction in Geneva on Monday, with red and green gemstones comprising the sale’s top three lots, each selling for more than $1 million.
The expected star of “The Geneva Jewels Auction: Three,” a ring set with a 17.97-carat Burmese ruby, did not disappoint.
A buyer paid $5.4 million for the piece, at the top end of its estimated range of $4.8 million to $5.5 million, making it the jewelry auction’s top lot by a wide margin.
Phillips described the ruby, which is set between two pear-shaped diamonds, as being of “exceptional clarity” for its size.
It also noted the gemstone has reports from both SSEF and Gübelin stating that it is of Burmese origin with no indications of heating.
The auction’s second highest-grossing lot was a ring set with a 20.49-carat step-cut, no-oil Colombian emerald, also with SSEF and Gübelin reports verifying its origin.
The gemstone sold for more than expected, with a buyer paying $1.5 million against a pre-sale estimate of $750,000 to $1 million.
The sale’s third highest-grossing lot was a ring set with a cut-cornered rectangular-cut 1.21-carat fancy red diamond.
The diamond, dubbed “The Red Miracle,” is surrounded by heart-shaped and brilliant-cut colorless diamonds and circular-cut pink sapphires.
Phillips estimated the ring, which was from a private collection, would sell for $500,000 to $800,000 but a buyer paid $1.1 million for the piece, more than double its low-end estimate.
“The Geneva Jewels Auction: Three” totaled $13.8 million, with 77 percent of the 112 lots offered finding buyers.
While the Burmese ruby, Colombian emerald, and fancy red diamond performed as or better than anticipated, a ring set with a 3.24-carat, internally flawless fancy vivid blue diamond, was withdrawn.
It was expected to potentially top the Burmese ruby as the auction’s top lot, with a pre-sale estimate of $4.8 million to $6 million.
Other highlights of the jewelry auction included a 19th-century spinel and diamond necklace that King George IV, who ruled from 1820 until his death in 1830, allegedly gave to his mistress, Marchioness Elizabeth Conyngham, as a gift.
A buyer paid $46,000 for the piece, topping its pre-sale estimate of $15,000 to $25,000.
Another piece from the 19th century, a gold bracelet featuring an 11.39-carat cushion-shaped emerald surrounded by diamonds, sold for $72,011, in line with its estimate of $50,000 to $80,000.
Adrienne de Morgan de Belloy, a French noblewoman, received the emerald as a wedding present when she married Pierre de Berny in 1893.
The couple’s nephew inherited the emerald and had it remounted on a gold bracelet in 1959.
Another piece with provenance included in the Phillips’ sale was a circa 1935 coral and diamond bracelet by Marsh & Co., the San Francisco jewelry firm known for its use of traditionally Asian materials, like coral, pearls, and jade.
The blackened steel bracelet once belonged to Margaret Roebling Perrine.
She was the daughter of Ferdinand Roebling, general manager of the John A. Roebling’s Sons Company in Trenton, New Jersey, best known for its pivotal role in constructing the Brooklyn Bridge.
Later, it found its way into Fred Leighton’s collection.
On Monday at Phillips, a buyer paid $18,721 for piece, just topping its pre-sale estimate of $12,000 to $18,000.