antiquesandartireland.com

The magnificent oval diamond at Sotheby’s, Hong Kong. UPDATE: IT SOLD FOR $30.6 MILLION US.

The largest D colour flawless type IIa diamond ever to appear at auction comes up at Sotheby’s Hong Kong on October 7.  The 118.28 carat stone is the largest oval shaped internally flawless diamond ever graded by the Gemological Institute of America.  Only four other white diamonds of this quality of over 100 carats have ever been sold at auction.  All were offered in Geneva salesrooms.  The fact that this one is being sold in Asia is testament to the importance of Hong Kong as an international jewellery auction centre.

Discovered in 2011 from the deep mines of Southern Africa the 299 carat rough of this stone is one of the largest found in recent years.  The resulting stone is estimated at US$28-35 million which is in excess of the current highest price ever paid for any white diamond at auction.

UPDATE: IT MADE $30.6 MILLION US.  This is a world record for any white diamond at auction.

The pocket sized 1678 arithmetical machine. (Click on image to enlarge).

A precursor to the computer, one of the earliest surviving pocket calculators, comes up at Christie’s bi-annual sale of Travel, Science and Natural History in South Kensington, London on October 10.  Made around 1678 by watchmaker Rene Grillet de Roven it is one of the earliest mechanical calculating devices known to exist and the first portable device.  Only three other known examples of this design survive.  It is estimated to make £70,000-100,000.

THE Dublin Metropolitan Police Proclamation banning a meeting.  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 900

THE centenary of the 1913 Lock Out will be marked at Whyte’s auction of History, Literature and Collectibles in Dublin on September 14.  It is exactly 100 years since Ireland’s most significant industrial dispute began in August 1913.  It went on until January 2014. Lot 253 in Whyte’s auction of 745 lots is a scarce Dublin Metropolitan Police proclamation banning a meeting at Sackville Street or its neighbourhood on August 31, 1913.  It warns that “… such meeting or assemblage is seditious and that the said meeting or assemblage would cause terror and alarm to, and dissension between, his Majesty’s subjects, and would be an unlawful assembly”.  It was issued by E.G. Swifte, Chief Divisional Magistrate and is estimated at 1,000-1500.

Lot 254 is a pair of National Seaman’s and Fireman’s Union membership booklets issued to Richard Dunne.  They show membership payment stamps from 1913 to 1916 with no stamps for the weeks from September 15 to November 3 1913. This period is overwritten in ink:  “8 weeks allowed Lockout”.  The booklets are estimated at 300-500.

The sale covers a time span from 50-60 million years BC with a basalt section from the Giant’s Causeway to the unique Irish Masters Snooker Trophy last awarded in 2007.

UPDATE: The Proclamation sold for 900, the union membership books for 620.

The auction at O’Reilly’s, Francis St., Dublin on August 28 will feature a number of diamond solitaire rings as well as an Art Deco diamond and sapphire ring and bracelet.   The catalogue is online. Here is a small selection:

An 18 carat gold wide bracelet , mesh link by West of Dublin, set with diamonds (4,000-5,000).

A solitaire diamond ring (7,000-8,000).

A 1930’s diamond bracelet of circular design (17,000-18,000).

The Premier Blue, a 7.59-Carat Round Brilliant-Cut Internally Flawless (IF) Fancy Vivid Blue Diamond. (Click on image to enlarge).

THE Premier Blue, the largest round fancy vivid blue diamond ever graded by the Gemological Institute of America, comes up at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong on October 7.  The internally flawless 7.59 carat stone is rare and exceptional.  Widely applied to white diamonds, the round brilliant cut is rarely used in coloured diamonds due to the high wastage involved in the cutting process. No significant round fancy blue diamond has ever appeared at auction worldwide.

It will be previewed around Asia and in Geneva, London, New York and Doha.

Quek Chin Yeow, Sotheby’s deputy chairman in Asia, said: “Sotheby’s has been entrusted with many important blue diamonds and holds the current per-carat price record for Fancy Vivid blue diamond at auction (with the sale of a 6.01-carat Fancy Vivid Blue Diamond which achieved US$1,686,505 per carat in Hong Kong in October 2011).  This Autumn we are thrilled to offer the Premier Blue”.

Sotheby’s say the Premier Blue offers an unprecedented collecting opportunity for connoisseurs worldwide.

The Cartier Red Peacock brooch at Sotheby’s, Hong Kong. (Click on image to enlarge).  UPDATE: IT SOLD FOR $871,770

This Cartier Red Peacock brooch is one of a number of  highlights  at Sotheby’s autumn sale of magnificent jewels and jadeite  in Hong Kong next October 7.  The sale will offer a selection of jewels to epitomise the glamour of the most stylish personalities of the old and new worlds. The selection is complemented by pink, yellow and colourless diamonds, Burmese rubies, Colombian emeralds and Kashmir sapphires, to natural pearls and the finest jadeite.  Around 350 lots are expected to make more than $80 million US.

From a Royal private collection the Cartier Red Peacock brooch is estimated at  $400,000-500,000 US.