New York–An array of flawless colorless diamonds, artistic works by master jewelers such as Cartier, JAR and Louis Comfort Tiffany, and an offering of jewels from the collection of a late fashion model will be among the highlights of Sotheby’s New York sale of Magnificent Jewels.
The Dec. 9 auction is expected to bring in more than $20 million, Sotheby’s said in a media release, with pieces of exceptional provenance and craftsmanship defining the sale.
“From the perfection of flawless diamonds and the rarity of natural pearls to the originality of one-of-a-kind pieces, our sale this season presents a captivating array of jewels that can only be found at auction,” Lisa Hubbard, chairman of Sotheby’s International Jewelry Department, North and South American divisions, said in a media release.
Hubbard added that after the success of the auction house’s recent sales in Hong Kong and New York, it has been clear that buyers are actively seeking diamonds with an extra something special, whether that be the stone’s inherent charm, rare shape or perfect quality.
Among the important colorless diamonds set for auction is a magnificent and rare oval diamond weighing 30.48 carats, of D color, with flawless clarity and type IIa “Golconda-like” classification, estimated to sell for more than $3.3 million.
Additional unmounted specimens worthy of attention include a round diamond weighing in at 18.11 carats, of H color and graded triple-X with excellent cut, polish and symmetry, as well as a pear-shaped diamond cut for candlelight and weighing 13.85 carats, with D color and VS2 clarity. The stones are estimated to fetch between $750,000 to $1 million, and $400,000 to $500,000, respectively.
As for mounted stones, highlights include a square emerald-cut diamond of 9.69 carats set as a ring and estimated between $350,000 and $450,000. The stone has E color, VVS2 clarity, is potentially flawless and certified type IIa.
Works of art by 20th-century master jewelers that are slated for the auction include two seminal pieces from Cartier’s famed 1920s period, including an Egyptian-style jeweled scarab belt buckle ($250,000-$350,000) and an Egyptian-style lapis lazuli, turquoise, diamond, black onyx and enamel bracelet ($75,000-$100,000).
The pieces feature exceptional provenance: The belt buckle was purchased in 1926 by Mrs. Cole Porter, and the bracelet was made by special order for her in 1929. Prior to her death in 1954, Porter gave the jewels to her friend, Princess Natalie Paley, in whose family collection the jewels have remained to the present day.
A rare and important, fancy intense-yellow diamond and emerald ring from Tiffany and Co., designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany circa 1915-1920, will also be featured ($200,000-$300,000), as well as a colored-stone and diamond bracelet designed by Van Cleef and Arpels, dating to 1930 ($100,000-$150,000). The yellow diamond in the Tiffany ring weighs in at 11.05 carats and is decorated with calibre-cut emeralds, while the Van Cleef bracelet incorporates 11.25 carats of colorless European-cut diamonds accented with sapphires, rubies, emeralds and onyx.
Also highly anticipated are pieces from the collection of Lucia Moreira Salles, a former model from Brazil and a dedicated philanthropist. Salles began her career in Paris at the end of the 1950s, and became a muse for both Valentino and Coco Chanel.
Highlights from her collection include three gemstone rings accented with diamonds and mounted in platinum by Paris designer JAR: one featuring a 27-carat cabochon Colombian emerald ($400,000-$600,000); another featuring a sugarloaf cabochon Burmese ruby weighing approximately 16.3 carats ($150,000-$200,000); and the third, a diamond “String” ring set with a 16.04-carat oval diamond of F color, SI1 clarity and type IIa ($350,000-$450,000).
Salles’ collection also features a selection of pearls, including a natural-pearl and diamond necklace ($250,000-$350,000) and a natural-pearl and diamond ring ($30,000-$50,000).
“Lucia Moreira Salles’ very personal collection offers a window into the innate style and elegance for which she was revered,” Hubbard said in the release. “She did not collect to impress; these are pieces that she loved to wear and which were part of the remarkable style that enabled her to work for two of the most influential fashion designers of all time during a legendary era in Paris.”
Prior to the December pre-sale viewing, highlights from the Magnificent Jewels auction will be exhibited in Geneva, Hong Kong and Los Angeles.
New York–TAG Heuer and Tiffany and Co. top the watch and adornment categories, respectively, in a new abstraction that measures affluence brands on their agenda competence.
The “Digital IQ” baronial arrangement acclimated to admeasurement agenda adequacy was advised by the L2 Affluence Lab of the New York University (NYU) Stern School of Business. In accession to watches and jewelry, the abstraction covers brands in the afterward categories: automobiles, adorableness and skincare, acclaim cards, cruises and tours, electronics, fashion, architecture and home, hotels, and wines and champagnes.
A absolute of 109 brands were ranked and accustomed a “Digital IQ” based aloft their seek engine optimization; cast translation–the aesthetics of their agenda media, as able-bodied as their messaging and conveyance of their ancestry and accumulated citizenship; leveraging the medium–their use of technology, interactivity and capability of their user interface; and finally, their use of amusing media.
The goal, according to Affluence Lab architect Scott Galloway, a analytic accessory assistant at the Stern School of Business, is to “provide a able-bodied apparatus that diagnoses agenda strengths and weaknesses, allowance companies accomplish greater acknowledgment on incremental investment.”
The top eight brands ranked in the abstraction anniversary accustomed Agenda IQs aloft 140, casual them into the “Genius” class, acceptation that agenda adequacy is a aggressive advantage for the brands and that their sites are seek optimized, aesthetically engaging, anatomic and interactive. In addition, the brands are experimenting, innovating and agreeable users on amusing media platforms and adaptable devices.
TAG Heuer was the alone watch or adornment cast to rank in the Genius category, sliding in at the eighth atom with a annual of 141. The abstraction declared the Swiss watch cast by adage that “great seek enhancement and anxious user interface lift TAG Heuer over mega-brand Rolex.”
The brands that baffled TAG cover Apple, ranked at No. 1 with a annual of 170, followed by BMW, Audi, Sony, Porsche, Louis Vuitton and Ralph Lauren.
Tiffany and Co., the astral adornment aggregation at No. 13, accustomed a Agenda IQ of 129, agreement it in the “Gifted” class. The abstraction alleged out Tiffany’s “elegant e-commerce belvedere and visually aggressive artefact search” as allowance the cast attain the top baronial a part of adornment brands.
Companies in the Gifted chic accustomed array amid 110 and 140, with the appellation acceptation that the brands’ sites are crawlable, brand-enhancing and about e-commerce enabled, and that the brands are aswell experimenting with a array of Web applications.
Rolex fell into this category, baronial 13th, as did Swarovski at 21 and Cartier at 22.
Of the watch and adornment brands falling into the “Average” class, scoring amid 90 and 110 on the Agenda IQ meter, were Chopard, Hublot, Movado, Van Cleef and Arpels, Omega, Bulgari and Piaget.
Brands in this chic affection sites that are anatomic but predictable, with bare accession and Web efforts that are not a point of aggressive differentiation, the abstraction said.
Next up are brands in the “Challenged” class, acceptation that their Web sites are aesthetically adorable but generally ailing accommodate the acquirement and artefact experience, and affection bound assurance above the capital Web site.
IWC ranked at the top end of this class, in the 72nd spot, with Baccarat at the low end, baronial 94th. Watch and adornment brands baronial in amid included Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Vacheron Constantin, Harry Winston, David Yurman and De Beers.
Finally, brands baronial as “Feeble,” scoring beneath 70 on the Agenda IQ scale, included Buccellati, Franck Muller, Graff, Bulova and Faberge. According to the study, brands falling into this chic do not authenticate charge to the requisite assets the cast and befalling warrants.
Looking added carefully at the watch and adornment categories, the abstraction finds that abounding of the brands that characterization themselves as “exclusive affluence brands” accept Agenda IQs that are on boilerplate 17 credibility beneath “mass bazaar affluence brands.” Abounding of the college price-point brands–most accepted in the watch, adornment and appearance categories–have “visually beauteous sites but attempt to absorb seek engine enhancement or an automatic user interface,” the abstraction explains.
In the watch category, TAG was the alone cast to cover links to accustomed retailers on the Web. In addition, with the barring of TAG, Rolex, Hublot and Movado, the sites of added watch brands analyzed in the abstraction crave three to six clicks to cross from the artefact affectation page to retail area information.
The abstraction gives the watch chic props, though, in agreement of amusing media. Findings acknowledge that watch brands accept added attendance on amusing media platforms than a lot of affluence brands.
As for jewelry, the abstraction calls the chic out as accepting the greatest amount of players beneath the “Challenged” and “Feeble” classes, with anemic traffic, poor user interfaces and bound use of amusing media arch to low Agenda IQs.
None of the adornment brands analyzed in the adornment chic affection a YouTube channel, the abstraction found; David Yurman is the alone cast boasting a Twitter annual with a bashful amount of followers; and Cartier and Tiffany are the alone brands with a cogent amount of admirers on Facebook.