FEATURE
FEATURE
AUCTION JEWELLERY
The gems of the
jewellery auction
Christie’s auction house is gearing up for the sale of one of the largest pink diamonds in existence.
Ahead of the auction LEWIS CATCHPOLE explores the jewellery auction market and hears about
some notable sales of the past
Francois Curiel
vivid pink diamonds of over 10 carats have ever been
offered for sale at auction. It is also the latest high-
profile jewel to be ready to go under the hammer at the
250-year-old auction house.
Over those 250 years François Curiel, chairman for
Europe and Asia, has worked at the company for 49 of
them. “In June of 1969 when I was on summer leave
from studying law at university, my father took me by
the hand in Paris and said that he didn’t want me to do
‘nothing’ in the summer and that I should learn better
English. He told me he had decided to send me on an
internship to Christie’s in London,” explains Curiel.
As his father was in the jewellery business Peter
Chance, who was the chairman at the time, decided
that Curiel should work in the jewellery department. “I
absolutely loved it”, exclaims Curiel. “I was researching,
preparing catalogues, sending out catalogues to clients
and acting as the middleman between the clients and
my boss who appraised the jewellery.”
‘‘
Vivid coloured
diamonds are the
most strongly
saturated gems,
displaying the
optimum hue of
the stone
‘‘
B
etween $30-50m (£23.1m-£38.5m) is the
expected price the Pink Legacy diamond is
expected to fetch at the Magnificent Jewels
auction on 13 November at Christie’s in Geneva.
“The saturation, the intensity of this stone is as good
as it gets in a coloured diamond,” says Rahul Kadakia,
international head of jewellery at Christie’s. “To find
a diamond of this size with this colour is pretty much
unreal, you may see this colour in a pink diamond of
less than one carat. But this is almost 19 carats and it’s
as pink as can be. It’s unbelievable.”
The Pink Legacy has been awarded the highest
diamond color grading of ‘vivid’ by the Gemological
Institute of America (GIA). Vivid coloured diamonds
are the most strongly saturated gems, displaying the
optimum hue of the stone. It is a classic rectangular
cut diamond, a cut that is traditionally used for white
stones. In the saleroom fancy vivid pink diamonds of
over 10 carats are virtually unheard of and only four
Credit: CHRISTIE'S IMAGES LTD
November 2018 | jewelleryfocus.co.uk
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