“Apollo & Artemis” Diamond Earrings Set World Record at Auction
ROCK SOLID: A pair of diamond earrings set a new record price of $57.4 million on Tuesday.
Billed as the most valuable pair of diamond earrings ever to appear at auction, the “Apollo Blue” fancy vivid blue diamond, weighing 14.54 carats, and the “Artemis Pink” fancy intense pink diamond, at 16 carats, went under the hammer as separate lots at Sotheby’s “Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels” sale in Geneva.
An anonymous buyer purchased the stones for $42.1 million and $15.3 million, respectively, and rechristened them “The Memory of Autumn Leaves” and “The Dream of Autumn Leaves,” the house said in a statement. This was within the estimated ranges of $38 to $50 million and $12.5 to $18 million, respectively.
The sale also set a world record for a fancy intense purplish pink diamond, with lot 371, a 7.04-carat diamond ring by Piaget, fetching $13.2 million. Other outstanding lots included a jadeite, onyx, ruby and diamond brooch by Cartier that formerly belonged to Mona, Countess Von Bismarck, which sold for $374,500.
Sotheby’s Hong Kong last month set a new world auction record for any diamond or jewel when the Pink Star, a 59.6-carat oval mixed-cut pink diamond — billed as the largest internally flawless fancy vivid pink diamond that the Gemological Institute of America has ever graded — fetched a whopping $71.2 million.
Acquired by Hong Kong jeweler Chow Tai Fook, the rock has since been renamed the CTF Pink Star.
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