Fancy Reddish-Orange at Sotheby's

[JewelFreak]

This made me squawk, "Yow!" when I turned the page to the listing. Sale is Dec. 10 if anybody is looking. $700K to $1.2 million estimate. Let's see....when do I get my paycheck? Edit: PS shows the color darker & a bit more brown than the catalog's color on my monitor.

 

[justginger]

This made me squawk, "Yow!" when I turned the page to the listing. Sale is Dec. 10 if anybody is looking. $700K to $1.2 million estimate. Let's see....when do I get my paycheck? Edit: PS shows the color darker & a bit more brown than the catalog's color on my monitor.

Holy moly, it's hard to imagine that being a natural colored diamond! Just striking in every sense of the word.

 

[kenny]

I want it.



Lots of extra weight in that 67.3% depth.
I'd have Eightstar recut it.

 

[bcavitt]

Just asked the boss for it as my Christmas bonus. He said that I wouldn't be happy with it because it will look dark because of the depth. At least he was honest (will check to see if he bids on it for himself!)

Bryan Cavitt
Images Jewelers

 

[minousbijoux]

That is the first stone I've seen sold at Sothebys that I would not buy - not into the color. Being as I have all the disposable income in the World, Laurie, you know I would otherwise buy it )

 

[Arkteia]

Quite close to my birthday...sigh. But at least I can marvel at what nature may produce!

 

[chrono]

It's only a fancy; am waiting for a vivid reddish orange to bid on.

 

[AprilBaby]

If it only had a twin I would buy it for earrings.

 

[chrono]

Wow, we PSers are quite the discriminating lot.

 

[bcavitt]

In case anyone was following this - Realized price for this stone was $2,098,500!! $666,190 a carat! Must have been better looking than the pictures showed.

Bryan Cavitt

 

[JewelFreak]

Yike! It's not a color I particularly go for either, but it does probably look much more brilliant IRL. I'd certainly give it a try if you'd bought it for me with all your disposable income, Minou.

--- Laurie

 

[chrono]

Minou probably thinks it's not good enough for you.

 

[T L]

I have to be honest, I don't like the color.

 

[minousbijoux]

Ya know, Laurie, I was just about to buy it for you, but none other than our ultimate source and self taught expert, TL, weighed in and agreed on the color. Let's keep looking, shall we, and find a stone completely worthy of you?

TL, so nice to see you, please come around more often and give us the benefit of your wisdom. I really, really miss you and I'm sure I'm not the only one!

 

[VapidLapid]

The color was much better on their site. It got PSed when loaded here.

 

[chrono]

The color was much better on their site. It got PSed when loaded here.

Is that the new word for pictures becoming desaturated when posted here?

 

[JewelFreak]

I thought so too, VL, about the color getting PSed. Yeah, Chrono, that's an official technical word.

Minou, ok by me -- I'll let you know when I find something I deserve. Shouldn't take too long.

--- Laurie

P.S. TL -- agreed! Come back more often; good to hear your voice.

 

[iLander]

It IS nice to hear from TL!

I can't make out the mm size on the report, how big was it?

Not sure I would spend the bucks (like I have those bucks ) on it if there's any possibility that it looks like a shiny garnet in real life.

I'm surprised it didn't go for more, I would imagine it's intensely rare, right?

I love looking through the top-tier auctions, don't you, Laurie? I think it's very educational. In the '80's Sothebys used to put out this book, the International Price Guide. It came out every year, and it was phone book size, with generous-sized black and white pictures of everything they had sold that year. It was divided by category so you could learn all about snuff bottles, or blanc de chine porcelain or armor or Meissen or dolls, or whatever. They were great. I threw them out because the prices became outdated, but it was full of visual info.

http://www.amazon.com/Sothebys-International-Price-Guide-1989-90/dp/0856673668/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1355369042&sr=8-4&keywords=Sotheby%27s+international+price+guide

 

[JewelFreak]

I remember those Price Guides, Chrono. Great! DH used to buy a different oneencompassing sales by all the auction houses & predictions for the following year by item type. Before I found PS, I satisfied (somewhat) my gem lust perusing top auctions. Learned about jewelry artisans & jewelry history. Also enjoy roaming auctions of antique furniture & silver. Eat my heart out!

When we moved to Holland the moving company damaged a 3-tiered mirrored screen I inherited from my grandfather & paid me $1500 (according to the gov't, that's almost $6K today). I contemplated investing it in a piece of antique Dutch silver, which I could eventually sell for more in the States, as it would be rarer here. An Amsterdam Sotheby's guy offered to help me. Sigh, ended up spending it on renovating our condo -- I knew at the time it was dumb & still regret it. I also knew I'd never be able to part with the piece anyway -- even dumber because we no longer have the condo & I would still have the silver piece to love. Not my brightest move.

Re the reddish-orange diamond -- dimensions 8.94 - 9.00 x 6.04 mm. Here's what Christies (not Sotheby's as I originally wrote!) says about the sale price: "Price Realized: $2,098,500 WORLD RECORD PRICE PER CARAT FOR A REDDISH-ORANGE DIAMOND AT AUCTION. A WORLD AUCTION RECORD FOR A REDDISH-ORANGE DIAMOND." That's over $666,000/ct. GIA report says it's the largest fancy reddish orange natural color diamond they've ever graded, but its clarity is SI2 -- maybe that made a difference. As auctioneers say, the price an item sells for depends on who is there that day -- and who isn't.

--- Laurie

 

[T L]

Thanks for the kind words. I saw the photos on other sites, and to me the stone looks reddish brown. Perhaps it is a rare color, but for me, stones should be about beauty, and it just looks like a brownish dark diamond. I'm sorry. Maybe it looks better in person. FCD's are a world of their own I suppose, and people don't just pay big $$$ for their looks. It seems GIA has a hand in grading them, and the certificate can make or break a stone's value. Can you imagine what the price would be if this was graded fancy reddish brown?

I'm sorry if I offended some people about this, but when I saw it, I had to say something.

 

[chrono]

So glad to see you posting again TL. I do see a lot of brown in it too, which could be why it is graded as a Fancy, hence my reference to prefering at least a Fancy Intense graded FCD. The problem lies with the lack of saturation. When orange is not saturated, it appears brownish. A poorly saturated red modifier only makes it worse by adding more brown. Then we dip into the tone category which also plays a role...