Would you spend over £80 on a diamond solitaire ring? Probably not, but this week in London, somebody did.
London’s Bonham jewellers finished up their very first large scale auction of fine jewellery this year. Despite the global economy still recovering, the auction managed to bring in a sizeable £2.2m. Bonham’s was more impressed than anyone at the final sales numbers as they were concerned that would not be able to match the success they saw in jewellery sales in 2009. So far, they seem to be off to a very good start with the results they achieve with their first auction of the year.
The high final number is said to be due largely to the four extremely valuable items that were part of the 135 lot auction. The first of the four was a solitaire diamond ring that was estimated to sell for between £55k and £65k. The 5 carat stone in the diamond ring was graded as internally flawless, a rare classification to find in larger stones. The diamond ring surprised auctioneers when it sold for just over £80k.
The next impressive piece up for bid was another 5 carat solitaire diamond ring estimated to sell for between £80k and £100k. With a higher overall grading on the Four C scale than the first ring and a more elaborate setting, this beauty managed to sell for an impressive £222,000. Also selling for the same amount was a 4.74 carat diamond solitaire ring, nearly identical in diamond grading to the previous lot. With an estimated selling price of £100k to £150,000k, the ring once again surpassed Bonham’s expectations fetching the same £222k as the previous lot. Experts attribute the high sale price of these two rings to the immense interest displayed on both items during the bidding process. Ultimately, one lucky person willing to spend over £440k was able to walk away with both rings in hand.
The crown jewel of the auction however, was not in the form of a ring. In fact, it was a diamond necklace. Weighing in at over 14 carats, a pear shaped pendant was saved for the final lot of the auction. Estimated to sell for a steep £200k to £300k, the diamond pendant was said to be one of the most stunning that Bonham’s has ever had to offer. Just as with the other auction pieces, this pendant exceeded all expectations, selling for a final price of £468k.