World's most expensive green stone sells for an eye-watering £7million more than 60 years after it was gifted to a British socialite
Published: 22:57 GMT, 12 November 2024 | Updated: 22:57 GMT, 12 November 2024
A rare square 37-carat emerald owned by the Aga Khan has fetched nearly $9million (£7million) at auction in Geneva, making it the world's most expensive green stone.
The Cartier diamond and emerald brooch, which can also be worn as a pendant, dethrones a piece of jewellery made by fashion house Bulgari - given by Richard Burton as a wedding gift to Elizabeth Taylor.
In 1960, Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan commissioned Cartier to set the emerald in a brooch with 20 marquise-cut diamonds for British socialite Nina Dyer, who he was briefly married to.
Dyer then auctioned off the emerald to raise money for animals in 1969.
By chance that was at Christie's very first sale of the kind in Switzerland on the shores of Lake Geneva, with the emerald finding its way back to the 110th edition this year.
A Christie's employee displays the Aga Khan Emerald, a Cartier emerald and diamond brooch
The brooch, which can also be worn as a pendant, has fetched nearly $9million (£7million) at auction
A Christie's employee displays the Sassoon necklace (right), Aga Khan Emerald, the Cartier emerald and diamond brooch (centre), and the Maharaja Necklace Van Cleef and Arpels Diamond transformable necklace and earrings (left)
It was bought by jeweller Van Cleef & Arpels before passing a few years later into the hands of the United States' Harry Winston, nicknamed the 'King of Diamonds'.
'Emeralds are hot right now, and this one ticks all the boxes,' said Christie's EMEA Head of Jewellery Max Fawcett.
'We might see an emerald of this quality come up for sale once every five or six years.'
Also set with diamonds, the previous record-holder fetched $6.5million at an auction of part of Hollywood legend Elizabeth Taylor's renowned jewellery collection in New York.
A Christie's employee shows off The Aga Khan Emerald, a cartier emerald and diamond brooch
The Cartier diamond and emerald brooch dethrones a piece of jewellery made by fashion house Bulgari
Last month, reports said a diamond necklace linked to a scandal that ruined Marie Antoinette's reputation was set to fetch £2.1million at auction.
The antique necklace was also worn at the coronations of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II.
Dating to around 1776, the rare piece is made from 300-carat diamonds, believed to have come from India's famous Golconda mines, in a scarf-style design with a pair of tassels.
Some experts believe that the necklace may have been made from some of the diamonds at the centre of the Affair of the Diamond Necklace, the 1780's theft from Crown jewellers Boehmer and Bassenge orchestrated by Comtesse Jeanne de la Motte.
She forged Antoinette's signature to get the necklace. Though innocent, the queen's reputation never recovered.
Rare emeralds found in 400-year-old shipwreck to fetch millions
Updated 12th August 2024
This 887-carat raw emerald, one of the largest known rough emeralds from the Muzo mines, is probably the largest such emerald in the United States, according to Guernsey's. Marcial de Gomar believes the stone could yield a 400-carat polished gem, but the auction house says he would prefer that it be preserved, perhaps in a museum.
Cleopatra wore them. Elizabeth Taylor loved them. Egyptians believed they could bring eternal life. Though diamonds enjoy the reputation of being a girl's best friend, emeralds in fact are more rare -- and more valuable.
"Sought after for their rich color, regal history and identifiable look, emeralds are one of the most iconic gemstones in the jewelry industry," Amanda Gizzi, a spokesperson for Jewelers of America, a New York-based trade association, said in an email.On April 25, the public will have the opportunity to own some of the most magnificent and valuable emeralds in the world, when they go up for sale at Guernsey's auction house in New York
Sunken treasure
One of the highlights of the sale is a collection of cut emeralds from the great Spanish shipwreck Nuestra Señora de Atocha, a galleon that sank off the Florida coast in 1622. The wreck is considered "the most valuable known shipwreck in history," according to the catalog accompanying the sale, largely thanks to its numerous Muzo emeralds, which are prized for their deep, clear green.
When treasure hunter Mel Fisher set out to retrieve the galleon's lost bounty in the 1980s, he hired Marcial to help him appraise the stones and jewels salvaged from the ship's wreckage.
Several of these stones, given to Marcial as payment for his work, are on offer in the Guernsey's sale, and include the Nine Pillars of Andes, a group of nine rough stones totaling over 91 carats and carrying an estimated price of $2.5 million to $3.5 million; and the 4.39 carat Queen of the Sea, estimated to sell for $250,000 to $350,000.
Trends in jewelry that see a rising popularity in colored stones have also made emeralds especially desirable in recent years. In fact, Gizzi predicted 2023 "will be a big year" for colored stones, including emeralds.
Members of the beryl family of minerals, emeralds obtain their rich green color through chromium, vanadium or iron deposits in the mines. In the process, most stones form inclusions, tiny fractures or bubbles within their structure that can make them especially fragile.
With more than 20 cut and raw stones and 13 spectacular pieces of jewelry, the rare emeralds on offer all come from a single collection that was compiled by emerald specialist Manuel Marcial de Gomar throughout his long career in the emerald industry.
The Conquistadora as a necklace Credit: Image: Courtesy Guernseys
Unique and untouched
Also included in the sale is the 887-carat La Gloria, which Guernsey's bills as "one of the largest museum-quality emeralds in the world," (estimate $4-5 million); and the Marcial de Gomar Star Emerald, the largest star emerald ever found (estimate $2-3 million), notable for its double-sided cabochon, and one of only 11 star emeralds known to exist.
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