Sapphire Necklace Sells for $15M at Christie’s

A rare sapphire necklace was the top seller at Christie’s Magnificent Jewels auction in Hong Kong, which garnered about $60 million in total on Tuesday.

The Peacock Necklace, which had a presale estimate of $12 million to $15 million, became the most expensive Kashmir sapphire necklace per carat in auction history, Christie’s said.

 The piece contains 21 cushion-cut Kashmir sapphires weighing a total of 109.08 carats. It fetched $15 million at the sale, achieving a price of $137,146 per carat.

Christie’s also garnered $1.3 million from the sale of the 24.04-carat, fancy-yellow Moon of Baroda pendant, which Marilyn Monroe wore to the premiere of her 1953 movie, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. The piece smashed its estimate of $500,000 to $750,000. An autographed photo of the actress wearing the necklace fetched $35,302, compared with its original estimate of $10,000 to $15,000.

An oval-shaped, 10.04-carat, Burmese pigeon’s blood ruby and diamond ring brought in $7.2 million in line with an expected $6.9 million to $8.7 million. A set of pear brilliant-cut, fancy-pink earrings weighing 5.21 carats and 5.01 carats sold for $4.3 million, within its presale valuation range of $3.8 million to $4.5 million .

Christie’s sold 70% of lots on offer at the auction.

Image: The Peacock Necklace. (Christie’s)

Source: DCLA