Displaying items by tag: diamonds

A long-lost Fabergé treasure has been discovered in the British royal family's art collection: an automaton elephant embellished in diamonds and rubies originally hidden as a "surprise" inside the Diamond Trellis Egg commissioned by czar Alexander III in 1892.

The find was announced this week by Royal Collection Trust senior curator Caroline de Guitaut at a conference at the Fabergé Museum in St. Petersburg.

More than 200 lots of diamonds, rare gemstones, and signed designer jewels brought $27.6 million at Christie’s New York sale of Important Jewels on June 16.

The top lot, a cushion-cut Kashmir sapphire of 21.71 carats, realized $4.2 million. Signed by Cartier, flanked on both sides by trapeze-shaped diamonds, and mounted in platinum, the ring was part of the collection of Margaret Adderley Kelly, which saw a 100% sell-through totaling just shy of $10 million.

Sotheby’s Jewels and Noble Jewels sale in Geneva raised a total of CHF 149.85 million (US$ 160.91 million) well in excess of its pre-sale estimate of CHF 87 million with 94 percent of the lots sold.

The result was partly attributable to the setting of a new world record for a ruby, with the "Sunrise Ruby," a 25.59-carat Burmese stone set with diamonds by Cartier, which sold for CHF 28.3 million ($30.3 million), more than double of its CHF 11.7-17.5 million estimate. The price also established a new record both for any ruby per carat and for any stone by Cartier.

Once the jewel-encrusted playthings of the Russian royal family, the first Faberge Imperial egg produced in almost a century is set to be unveiled in Qatar, its makers said.

Ninety nine years since Faberge made its last Imperial egg, for Tsar Nicholas II, the famous jewel maker will show off its newest creation at an exhibition of watches and jewelery in Doha.

The "Faberge Pearl Egg" features 139 fine white pearls, and more than 3,300 diamonds as well as other precious gemstones, according to the jeweler.

Several Gulf nations have a long history of pearl diving, and Qatar is building an artificial island off its coast named after the precious treasure.

Today, Sotheby’s announced that a rare Emerald-cut 100.2-carat perfect diamond will lead its April 21 Magnificent Jewels sale. The stone is just one of six diamonds over 100 carats and comparable-quality ever to be sold at auction, and is estimated between $19 and $25 million.

“The size is what makes it rare and beautiful,” said Frank Everett, Sotheby’s vice president of sales for jewelry, to the "Observer." (It is the largest perfect Emerald-cut to be sold at auction.) “It could be considered a kind of object of art. When you hold it in your hand it’s such a unique experience—you can see the mastery of the cut and the entire geometry.”

When the doors of the prestigious Winter Antiques Show opened at the Park Avenue Armory on January 23, 2015, David A. Schorsch and Eileen M. Smiles celebrated their fourteenth year of exhibiting with a new, larger booth and for the first time offering historic and aesthetic mineral specimens in addition to fine American antiques. The minerals and native elements (gold, silver and copper) have been selected for their merit as natural works of art and historic associations. Beginning with European royalty and aristocrats and then gilded age American millionaires, mineral collecting has evolved into a worldwide market of connoisseurs for mineral specimens exhibiting a beauty and perfection uniquely created by natures. The minerals on offer will range from tiny diamonds to a large and impressive Rhodochrosite. Held at the historic Park Avenue Armory, The Winter Antiques Show runs through February 1, 2015, www.winterantiquesshow.com

The gallery of David A. Schorsch and Eileen M. Smiles is located at 358 Main Street South in Woodbury, Connecticut. Telephone: 203 263-3131. For additional information please visit the website: www.Schorsch-Smiles.com.

Mario Buccellati was the first jeweler to introduce the technique of texture-engraving, such as rigato (parallel lines cut onto the surface of metal to obtain a sheen effect), ornato (based on the forms of animals, leaves, flowers), and telato (fine cross-hatched lines, imitating a fabric surface), which were used to make the metal look and feel as soft as silk, damask, tulle, lace, or linen.

Buccellati masterpieces created over the last 100 years are now on show at the Pitti Palace in Florence, in "The Treasures of the Buccellati Foundation" exhibition showcasing the creations of both the house’s founder and his son, Gianmaria Buccellati, including rings that resemble turbans, butterfly and panda brooches, and a “tulle” tiara studded with brilliant and rose-cut diamonds.

A mystery worthy of the one of the great writer’s own books reached its conclusion in Bonhams Jewelery sale in Knightsbridge.

Setting the room buzzing with excitement, bidders in the room, on the telephones, and online competed for Christie’s diamond brooch and three-stone diamond ring, pushing the prices ever higher. The ring, originally estimated at £3,000-5,000, sold for £21,875 (including buyer’s premium), and the brooch, estimated at £6,000-8,000, sold for a whopping £27,500 (including buyer’s premium).

The two pieces were long thought to be lost, having been mentioned as family heirlooms by Christie in her autobiography, but their whereabouts were unknown.

Sounds like the makings of a mystery: A cache of diamonds was found in a trunk after sitting undiscovered for years.

Jennifer Grant, an Agatha Christie fan, bought a traveling trunk at an estate sale at Greenway, Christie's holiday home. The trunk was surprisingly heavy because of a lockbox bolted inside. There was no key.

"I almost did not want to open it because then the mystery would be over," Grant told the BBC. "When friends came round we would tip the trunk from one side to the other and listen to hear if anything rattled. If you were very quiet you could just about hear something sliding inside."

Damien Hirst’s latest line of jewelry from Hoorsenbuhs and Other Criteria, titled the Cathedral Collection, features bejeweled medicine capsules, reports Bazaar.

A long, beaded Pill Rosary irreverently replaces the traditional Crucifix with a Hirst-monogrammed golden pill that has been cracked open, releasing a stream of tiny rubies and black and white diamonds. A chunky Pill Ring featuring a tangle of similarly gem-encrusted pills completes the two-piece collection.