Geneva Auctions Take Center Stage

Happy new month. It’s quite crazy how quickly time is moving. We already have the Vegas shows coming up at the end of the month, though before that GemGenève gets underway this week and next, alongside the Geneva auctions with their usual line-up of spectacular diamonds.

This year the offering feels a little understated, though the 5.50-carat triangular-cut fancy vivid blue-green diamond at Christie’s, and the cushion-shaped 6.03-carat fancy vivid blue, internally flawless stone at Sotheby’s, will still draw plenty of attention. Both carry pre-sale estimates in the region of $9 million to $12 million.

An interesting subplot at Sotheby’s is lot 617, a perfectly matched pair of unmounted brilliant-cut white diamonds, both D-color, one flawless and the other internally flawless. Both originate from Botswana and form the next installment of a collaboration Sotheby’s struck with De Beers, following the sale of the Jwaneng 28.88 in Hong Kong last month.

I hope to have more on that collaboration soon. It feels like a relatively new angle for De Beers’ polished division, which I feel could take on greater importance in the near to midterm. Watch this space.

One of the reasons I like the May Geneva sales is that they generate genuine, organic interest in natural diamonds, serving as a reminder that sometimes the product just speaks for itself.

This blog first appeared in the May 4 Pressing Matters Executive Memo. Read the full memo here, Pressing Matters.

Sotheby’s will offer a cushion-shaped, 6.03-carat, fancy vivid blue, internally flawless type IIb diamond from South Africa’s Cullinan mine as the leading lot at its High Jewelry sale in Geneva on May 12. The stone has a presale estimate of CHF 7.2 million to CHF 9.6 million ($9.1 million to $12.2 million), the auction house said. (image credit: Sotheby's)