Monday, December 14, 2009

Christie's 39-carat 'Star' shoots off at $5.4M


The pear-shaped, D color "Evening Star" diamond weighs in at 39 carats and is from India's ancient Golconda mines. An anonymous buyer paid $5.4 million for the stone at Christie's on Thursday.

New York--A 39-carat, D color diamond from India's famed Golconda mines called the "Evening Star" fetched $5.4 million at Christie's, the latest in a line of remarkable diamonds to dazzle at auction. According to a press release from the auction house, an anonymous buyer snapped up the stone, paying $138,000 per carat for the diamond dubbed the "Evening Star" because its previous owner liked to wear it out at night.

It was part of Christie's "Magnificent Jewels from a Distinguished Private Collector" sale, held Thursday in New York.The sale of the "Evening Star" comes on the heels of the record-setting $10.8 million sale of "The Vivid Pink" diamond Dec. 1 in Hong Kong and the $7.7 million sale of the 32.01-carat D-flawless Annenberg Diamond in October."The diamond market continues to show remarkable strength despite the volatility of the financial world," Rahul Kadakia, head of jewelry at Christie's New York, said in the release. "Just two weeks after a very strong sale of jewels at Christie's Hong Kong--where a 5-carat pink diamond went for $10.8 million--the exceptional Evening Star Golconda diamond of 39 carats sold at Christie's New York for $5.4 million.

It was a fitting grand finale to a year that saw over $100 million in jewels change hands under our gavels in the U.S." The combined total for Christie's "New York Jewels" and the "Magnificent Jewels" sales was $25.18 million, with 85 percent of the goods sold by lot and 97 percent sold by value, according to the release.Other notable lots include a modified rectangular-cut fancy intense blue VS1 diamond of 7.02 carats, which went for $3.89 million to an anonymous buyer, and a 36.78-carat, D color internally flawless diamond, purchased by a member of the U.S. trade for $3.39 million.

In addition, a pair of D-VVS pear-shaped diamonds of 10.21 and 10.51 carats garnered nearly $2.1 million, while a modified cushion-cut fancy intense yellow diamond of 40.92 carats was auctioned off for $1.11 million.


Source: National Jeweler

No comments: