【Madrid, Spai】Magna Art Auctions Launches Its First Auction Featuring Diamonds Up to 8 Carats with a Starting Value of 4 Million Euros

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Editor’s Note

Magna Art Auctions in Madrid has launched its inaugural sale, featuring high-value jewels including a rare 8.02-carat diamond ring. The auction opens at €4.5 million.

Auction House Launches with High-Value Diamonds

Magna Art Auctions, which opened its doors in Madrid last October, has launched its first art auction with a starting price of 4.5 million euros. The auction will feature jewels such as a white gold ring with an 8.02-carat princess-cut diamond.

“There are only two on the diamond market, across the four existing exchanges, only two in the world. When manufacturing a diamond, no one makes a princess cut because the brilliant cut is much more commercial. That’s what makes this exceptional,”

stated Nacho Luna, Director of Jewels at Magna Art Auctions, during the presentation of the pieces to the media this Monday.

Thus, this ring with a princess-cut diamond has a starting price of 165,000 euros, while the second one available on the Antwerp (Belgium) exchange is priced at 250,000 euros. However, Luna explained, these figures are the prices at which they are sold to manufacturers; in a jewelry store, it could reach 1 million euros.

Other Notable Lots

The auction also includes a solitaire with a 6.51-carat ‘cushion’ cut diamond in ‘Fancy Yellow’ color—natural colored diamonds that are untreated—with a starting price of 32,500 euros; and a white gold necklace with 38 diamonds, with a starting price of 37,500 euros.

In this regard, the director of the house, José Miguel Carrillo de Albornoz, hopes that the buyer profile for the inaugural auction on the upcoming December 3rd will be investors in “finite goods.”

“If you buy a diamond in a jewelry store that costs half a million euros, it’s not an investment. Diamonds are long-term investments. Diamonds are finite goods; they run out. Now there are lab-grown diamonds, which I think are great, but I don’t believe in them because natural is natural. The profile I see (for buyers), besides someone wanting a whim, is the investor who wants to invest in a piece worth 125,000 euros knowing it’s valued at 500,000 euros on the market,”

added Luna, later assuring that the auction will have pieces at all price points because they want to sell “accessible luxury.”

“We Want to Create a Diamond Culture”

Thus, both Luna and Carrillo de Albornoz reiterated that their intention is to create a “diamond culture” in Spain at a time when the scarcity of pieces is beginning to become “complicated” due to factors such as the war with Israel.

“We want to create a diamond culture… Right now, there aren’t two identical princess cuts to make a pair. We are truly talking about scarcity in the diamond market. It’s a bit complicated due to the war with Israel. There are four diamond exchanges in the world: Antwerp, Bombay, New York, and Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv is completely crushed by the war issue, which has caused Antwerp, being the most important exchange, to pay even more. A scarcity in small stones has been noticed,”

Luna specified.

Among the pieces to be auctioned, Carrillo de Albornoz highlighted a 120-carat aquamarine piece and a cross-shaped diamond, which he described as of “great rarity”; the rigid ‘Ganesha’ bracelet, attributed to jeweler Luis Gil; and a gold necklace with a 15th-century coin from the Duchy of Milan, signed by jeweler Palloti.

Furthermore, pieces of decorative arts, a collection of viceregal art, ancient and 19th-century painting and sculpture, as well as contemporary art can also be found.

“I also wanted us to have a nod to history, which is my passion: the art history of jewels. I’ve asked Nacho (Luna) that each auction, if possible, have a somewhat exceptional piece to be able to show people, which I believe people also like very much,”

he concluded.

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⏰ Published on: January 09, 2025