No, this is about selling a diamond at auction, but perhaps not giving it the best chance of maximising its value.

Ritchies Auctioneers in Toronto, Canada have a fine jewellery sale coming up on Sunday 13th November, and they’re lucky enough to have been entrusted with a diamond weighing 50.24 carats – the sort of stone which would normally be sold at auction by one of the world-famous auction houses in Geneva, New York, or increasingly, in Hong Kong.

Now a diamond like this (in fact, any diamond) needs a bit of romancing. It’s worth commissioning some fabulous photography, and perhaps asking a copywriter to put together a compelling story about the diamond, about what makes it so special and so alluring.

But what do we have here? Well, we have a photo (right), but it’s not exactly the world-class imagery that a 50ct diamond deserves — we get no idea of scale: this diamond could weigh 0.05ct or 0.50ct.

This looks like a (low quality) technical image shot on home equipment: top view, side view – it’s clinical, not the least bit emotional.

Bizarrely, the auction house chooses to mention a GIA certificate (apparently it’s VS1 clarity and J colour) but doesn’t tell us the certificate number or provide a pdf of the cert on their website.

Why would that be? My guess is that the diamond is a pretty poor cut and the certificate says so (it doesn’t look that great). Chances are that a diamond which has been cut to hit a weight threshold (i.e. to just beat 50 carats) is not the most Excellent cut.

Lastly there’s the ‘back story’ of the stone. We don’t need to know the buyer’s name – of course he has the right to privacy – but what we are told about the buyer and the diamond’s background is very vague and seems to detract from, rather than add to, the diamond’s allure and value.

A report (including video) can be found here, and the buyer is described as a Belgian hotelier who, because of the economic turmoil in Europe, has been ‘forced into auction‘ of the diamond. We’re told that one of the reasons the buyer has chosen the auction sales route is because it ‘guarantees him confidentiality‘. Yes, well, I think we can all draw our own conclusions from that…

The Managing Director of the auction house talks about “things of this calibre” being “liquidated“. He adds “We’re liquidating. This is a quick sale” – hardly romancing the stone, is it?

Meanwhile, the lead gemologist of the auction house says “I’ve never dealt with a diamond like this before“. His best guess is that the diamond was mined in South Africa, but admits he doesn’t know for sure.

Hmmm… not sure that I would want to buy a used car from these guys.

The stone is described as a “$10 million diamond”, but that’s retail, apparently, so they only expect to get $4 to $4.5 million for it at auction. Extraordinary.

And this from the same team, according to this report, which sold a pink diamond last year for $2.3 million having previously valued it at $8 to $12 million.

Anyway, good luck to them. We’ll bring you the auction result – if they publicise it…

UPDATE, 15th November 2011: Ritchies report that they sold the diamond for $3,107,500 – some distance short of $10m ‘retail’ and their pre-sale estimate of $4 to $4.5 million.

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This one weighs a very impressive 553 carats in the rough, and it’s a beautifully white (i.e. colourless), described by Gem Diamonds in a press release as D colour (although we’ll all have to wait and see how the polished turns out before it’s officially certified as ‘top colour’).

The diamond diggers proudly, and quite rightly, describe the diamond as ‘exceptional’, ranking it as the 15th largest white diamond ever to be recovered.

It is the fourth historic diamond recovered from the Letšeng Mine in recent years, following the recovery of the 603 carat Lesotho Promise, the 493 carat Letšeng Legacy and the 478 carat Light of Letšeng.

They have just announced that they’re calling this one the Letšeng Star, pictured below next to a perfectly formed but rather overwhelmed yellow rough diamond.

Late last year Gem Diamonds sold a couple of large white rough diamonds for almost $60,000 per carat. A similar per carat valuation for this stone would bring in a very tidy $33 million.

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The collection of almost 300 pieces, many of them gifts from Richard Burton, is up for auction at Christie’s in New York in December, and can be viewed in their London showrooms later this month.

Among the highlights is the Krupp diamond (latterly known as the Elizabeth Taylor diamond), a 33.19 carat Asscher cut stone. It cost Burton less than half a million dollars in 1968, but it’s likely to sell for at least $2m in December, and could fetch twice that.

The whole collection is likely to sell for at least $30 million.

Take a look…

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It’s customary with the most impressive diamonds to issue as much information as possible about the stone: the exact weight, the graded colour, clarity and so on (auction houses generally give the serial number of the laboratory certificate accompanying the diamond).

And more often that not for a diamond of this size, the PR blurb will include details of the original rough diamond, i.e. its weight and its source: the country of origin and probably the actual mine (even if the evidence for such provenance is more anecdotal than scientific – these things are usually taken on trust in the diamond world).

All Chopard will tell us about this diamond is its “extreme purity and sparkling whiteness“. Er, thanks for that.

Oh, and they add that it’s like the Koh-i-Noor diamond from the legendary Golconda mine in India. So they want us to think it’s from Golconda, but they can’t actually say that it is. Fine.

Anyway, even more bizarre is the accompanying publicity shot, which appears to show a sleeping model about to be force-fed this amazing gem. We know that models have unusual dietary requirements but this seems a little eccentric even for that rarefied haute luxe air where big brands meet big diamonds…

"Open wide..."

[Hat-tip to JCK Online]

The 45.52 carat Hope Diamond was donated to The Smithsonian just over 50 years ago by Harry Winston, but it has quite a history over the last 300+ years.

It was brought to Europe from India in the mid-17th century by French traveller Jean-Baptiste Tavernier and at the time it was known as the Tavenier Blue, weighing 115 carats.

Its origin is not known for sure but it’s likely that the original gem came from the Kollur mine in Andhra Pradesh, India, then part of the Golconda kingdom. It came to be known as the French Blue after it was sold by Tavernier to King Louis XIV in 1669 and recut by the crown jeweller into a ‘smaller’ diamond of a little over 67 carats.

The French Blue disappeared during the French Revolution, but reappeared 20 years later in London in 1812, now re-cut to a size which matches up with the Hope Diamond. In 1839, the diamond appeared in a published catalogue of the gem collection of Henry Philip Hope, from whom it took its name.

The much-celebrated diamond is said to be cursed, but it looks fabulous in its new platinum and diamond setting. The winning design was chosen by a public vote and is called ‘Embracing Hope‘.

We think these pictures do this fabulous diamond far more justice than mere words or an extended diamond history lesson from us… so here it is: Enjoy!

images courtesy of Harry Winston (c)

The bidding war for Lot 550 was won by billionaire British diamond dealer Laurence Graff, who paid a hammer price of 40,500,000 Swiss francs, inflated to CHF 45,442,500 including the buyer’s premium.

24.78 carat fancy intense pink diamond set in a ring; image courtesy of Sotheby's (c)

That’s around £29 million, or US$46m.

The pre-sale estimate for the gem was between US$27-38 million, so the final price comfortably beat the upper end of pre-sale expectations, and it also claimed a world record for the highest price ever paid for a gem of any kind at auction.

In fact this diamond almost doubled the existing record set by the blue 35.56-carat Wittelsbach-Graff diamond auctioned for £16.4 million in 2008.

Diamond industry insiders generally look at prices paid for such diamonds (indeed for any diamonds) in terms of dollars per carat, and on that basis this pink diamond achieved $1.85 million per carat.

That’s nearly three times the $658,000 per carat paid for the blue 35.56-carat Wittelsbach-Graff mentioned above.

But some relatively modest diamonds (in terms of size, modest compared to these diamonds of 20 carats or more) have sold for more than the magical threshold of $1 million per carat.

We have previously reported on a 5 carat vivid pink and a 5.16ct vivid blue diamond, both of which sold for more than $1 million per carat, with the vivid pink actually achieving around $2 million per carat.

This particular diamond comes with a little history and one of the world’s great names in diamonds attached to it. The stone comes to the market from a private collection and has not appeared on the open market since it was purchased some 60 years ago from Mr Harry Winston.

Ahead of the sale, Sotheby’s described the diamond as “one of the most important and beautiful gemstones ever to come up for auction: an exceptionally rare and truly magnificent pink diamond of the purest, vibrant hue, weighing 24.78 carats and graded Fancy Intense Pink by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA).”

The emerald-cut stone, mounted as a ring, was further assessed to be a member of the rare and coveted type IIa
classification which comprises less than 2% of all of the world’s gem diamonds. In addition, while presently graded as
VVS2 clarity, the GIA were reported to have stated that the stone may be potentially flawless after repolishing.

We don’t know how much weight the diamond will lose if it’s repolished to achieve a flawless classification, but it’s interesting that this has not already been done – flawless diamonds are that much more desirable, especially in today’s hot market in the Far East (which would not have been the case 60 years ago, of course).

The cut of the diamond is also notable. Emerald cuts are generally associated with the purest white (actually colourless) diamonds, and are rarely seen in fancy colours such as blues and pinks. This emerald cut is softened somewhat by its rounded corners.

As for the buyer, well Laurence Graff was born into an orthodox Jewish immigrant family in the East End of London. He left school at an early age and began an apprenticeship in the Hatton Garden jewellery district. By the age of 24 he had opened two shops of his own in London.

Today Graff has one of the world’s biggest and best known diamond & jewellery businesses, with more than 30 stores worldwide (which can be subject to the wrong kind of attention), and Mr Graff himself has been estimated to be worth around £1.2 billion.

He has modestly named this new acquisition, ‘The Graff Pink’.

Some months ago we had an enquiry about our stunning Hestia tiara (below), but not for a wedding: our customer was interested in hiring the tiara for the State Opening of Parliament, on a date yet to be set (this was before the UK election was called).

And so it came to pass: our tiara was perched atop an aristocratic head during the Queen’s Speech in the House of Lords in Parliament here in London, and we’re told that it got lots of appreciative comments from all sides.

Of course it also gave us an excuse to watch ‘The Gracious Speech’ (as it’s known) and we couldn’t help but notice that our precious tiara was jostling for attention, and, well yes perhaps we must concede that it was being upstaged somewhat by the crown that the Queen was wearing.

So we did what all loyal UK subjects should do in such circumstances: we didn’t really listen to what Her Majesty was saying about the important legislative plans for Her Government, we started doing a bit of research into what she was wearing.

And here’s what we discovered: for the State Opening of Parliament the Queen wears the Imperial State Crown (right).

The crown is adorned with over 3000 gems, mostly diamonds, but also rubies, sapphires, emeralds and pearls.

Others will highlight the ‘Black Prince Ruby’, the ‘Stuart Sapphire’, or the ‘St. Edward’s Sapphire’.

But we reckon that the main event is the Cullinan II diamond which sits on the front of the crown and weighs in at 317.4 carats.

The Cullinan II diamond is sometimes called the Lesser Star of Africa. It’s the second biggest polished diamond cut from the world’s largest gem quality rough diamond ever discovered, the 3,106.75 carat Cullinan Diamond from the Premier Mine (later called the Cullinan Mine) in South Africa, unearthed in 1905.

Which is all very impressive of course, but the Imperial State Crown makes regular appearances in Parliament so it’s not much of a story in its own right.

So please forgive us if we dwell on the debut appearance of our Hestia tiara in such a historical setting.

We got quite a thrill to see our relatively humble jewels rubbing shoulders with our shiny new Prime Minister, Her Majesty the Queen, the Imperial State Crown, and the Cullinan II diamond — absolute royalty in the world of jewels, and pretty good company for Diamondthrills to be keeping!

If you would like to experience the thrill of being adorned by our magnificent Hestia tiara at your wedding or special event, then please get in touch and we’ll make it available to you — provided that it’s not already booked out for any more state occasions, of course.

The 5.16 carat diamond is one of an exceptional and unique set of 12 rare blue diamonds presented to the world in 1999 by De Beers.

The centrepiece of the De Beers Millennium Jewels Collection was the ‘Millennium Star’ – a D colour, Flawless 203.03 carat pear-shape diamond which was cut from a 777 carat rough stone in a cutting process which took three years and encompassed the diamond centres of Antwerp, South Africa, and New York.

De Beers’ Harry Oppenheimer remarked that the Millennium Star was the most beautiful diamond he had ever seen.

The Millennium Collection, including the Millennium Star and this 5.16 carat diamond, gained considerable notoriety in November 2000 when a gang of jewel theives attempted to steal the whole lot by smashing a JCB digger through the gates of London’s Millennium Dome.

But De Beers and Scotland Yard were prepared for them: the diamonds had been switched for crystal replicas and police were lying in wait for the gang. Had the jewel heist succeeded, it would have been the world’s most valuable robbery, with reports at the time valuing the collection at £350 million.

Yesterday’s sale in Hong Kong featured just one diamond from this exceptional collection: a 5.16 carat blue diamond described by Sotheby’s as an ‘Important and Rare Vivid Blue Diamond‘, set in a ring flanked by two white diamonds (pictured, right).

In a supplementary catalogue note, Sotheby’s state that the diamond is ‘Accompanied by GIA report numbered 1112874424, dated 23 March 2010, stating that the 5.16 carat diamond is natural, Fancy Vivid Blue colour, Internally Flawless clarity, inscribed with “De Beers Millennium Jewel 11″.’

The auctioneer adds that the ring is size 5½ and that it was previously property from an important private collection.

Although the auction took place in Hong Kong, reflecting the current appetite of the Chinese market for collectibles such as important works of art and diamonds, the buyer of the diamond was actually reported to be Alisa Moussaieff, founder of London-based Moussaieff Jewellers Ltd, with boutiques in Bond Street, Park Lane, and Geneva.

Moussaieff is expected to re-mount the diamond in London and then offer it for sale to “discerning clients, possibly in Asia”. Some reports suggested that Moussaieff considers that she’s got a bargain, paying around $1.25 million per carat for a diamond that could fetch $2m or even $3m per carat when sold on by a renown jeweller such as Moussaieff.

In any event, the diamond ring fetched more than Sotheby’s anticipated: their pre-sale estimate for this lot was 36-46 million Hong Kong dollars, but the actual price achieved, including buyer’s premium, was 49.94 million Hong Kong dollars.

The Cullinan Heritage diamond; image courtesy of Petra Diamonds

This spectacular and historic gem has been named to reflect the date of its recovery on Heritage Day in South Africa (24 September 2009), as well as its origins from the illustrious Cullinan mine, which has produced the majority of the world’s most famous and important diamonds, according to Petra.

The Cullinan Heritage will shortly be placed on tender in Johannesburg and Petra will announce the sales value achieved for this very rare diamond following completion of the tender towards the end of February.

Johan Dippenaar, Petra’s CEO, commented, “The Cullinan Heritage is not only exquisitely beautiful, but also of true historical importance. Since we announced the recovery of the diamond in September 2009, we have experienced a high level of interest from the trade and we look forward to announcing the results of the sale before the end of the month.”

The actual weight of the diamond is 507.55 carats and appears to be of exceptional colour and clarity – the key determinants of its value along with its obvious size.

At 507 carats (just over 100 grams) the diamond is thought to be one of the 20 largest high quality rough diamonds ever found worldwide, and ranks alongside other illustrious diamonds recovered at the celebrated Cullinan mine.

Cullinan has a special place in the history of diamonds as the source of the world’s largest gem diamond ever recovered, the ‘Cullinan’, at 3,106 carats rough.

It has also produced a further two of the world’s largest diamonds, the Golden Jubilee at 755 carats rough and the Centenary at 599 carats rough, and many other famous gems including the Taylor-Burton (69 carats polished).

The 507 carat diamond was recovered alongside three other special white stones of similar colour and clarity in the same production run: another very large stone of 168.00 carats and two other diamonds of 58.50 and 53.30 carats.

The Cullinan mine also produced a notable blue diamond which sold for a record price in 2009.

Rough diamond prices took a tumble in late 2008 and into the first half of 2009, but the diamond market has seen some recovery over the last few months. A diamond such as this however, is so exceptional that it’s value is rather subjective and largely detached from general market trends.

Graff ring set with 5ct pink diamond; image by Christie's

The ring was sold by Christie’s at their auction, ‘Jewels: the Hong Kong sale’ for a price (including buyer’s premium) of HK$83,540,000. This price smashed the pre-sale estimate of HK$39-55 million.

Christie’s said that the pink diamond is accompanied by a GIA (Gemological Institute of America) report dated 23 July 2009 stating that the 5.00 carat diamond is fancy vivid pink, natural colour, VS1 clarity; with a working diagram indicating that the clarity is potentially Flawless.

That last fact tells a story: the diamond is potentially flawless, but it weighs exactly 5.00 carats, so a highly skilled diamantaire might try to polish out some tiny blemish that exists on the surface of the diamond, thereby improving its clarity from VS1 to Flawless, but at the (highly likely) risk of having the diamond’s weight drop below the important 5 carat threshold.

The pink diamond is cut into a cushion shape, and was set into a size 5 ring by celebrated London jeweller Graff, flanked on either side by shield-shaped white diamonds, mounted in platinum and 18k rose gold.

Strictly speaking the price paid was for the entire ring, including the two flanking diamonds and the precious metal, but the buyer was really buying the extraordinarily rare pink diamond, and on that basis, the price paid was over $2 million per carat, which Christie’s claim is the most ever paid for a diamond at auction.

The price paid for this diamond is also thought to be the highest price paid for any jewel at auction in 2009, so the year has finished with a flourish in the diamond auction market, and it’s fitting that these records are being broken in the Far East – now home to so much of the world’s wealth and appetite for highly priced luxuries such as this extraordinary gem.

See also our previous report on this diamond.