Jewels and Jadeite Hong Kong Sunday, May 27, 2018 | Phillips

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    • Twenty-one cushion-shaped sapphires, totalling 52.50 carats

    • Spaced by brilliant-cut and fancy-shaped diamonds, totalling approximately 35.25 carats

    • Platinum

    • Length approximately 405mm

    (Twenty-one Sapphires)
    AGL report, numbered 1091315, dated 20 March 2018, all Kashmir (except for a 1.00-carat sapphire, undetermined), no indications of heating.
    SSEF report, all Kashmir (except for a 1.11-carat sapphire, undetermined), no indications of heating.

    附 美國 AGL 及 瑞士 SSEF 證書

  • Catalogue Essay

    Phillips is proud to offer an exceedingly rare necklace assembling twenty-one unheated sapphires from the reputed mine of Kashmir in this auction. This is also the only necklace comprising a full collection of unheated Kashmir sapphires to appear in auction market in the past decade.

    The difficulty in putting together a necklace with considerable number of precious gemstones is comparable to that of a jadeite bead necklace, which is considered the utmost form of jewellery among serious collectors. It takes the most acute sense and expert eyes to source a handful of well-matched gems with the same colour and clarity; but to be able to make such judgement, one must be presented the chance circumstances to encounter such gems in the first place. It is no surprise that such chances could be described as meagre if these gemstones all come from a legendary mine that was depleted nearly a hundred years ago.

    All the blue sapphires on this necklace hail from Kashmir, specifically in a valley amidst the Himalayan Mountains between Pakistan and China. These blue gems were first discovered in the region in 1879 allegedly from a landslip. The colour of these blue stones is so unique and distinct that was best described by the late Dr. Eduard Gübelin: soft and velvety, scintillating yet bland at the same time; it is a clear, deep blue, enhanced by a gentle admixture of kingly purple.

    The amount of sapphires yielded from this area was steady to begin with, however, over the course of six to seven years, supplies of top-quality Kashmir sapphires rapidly decreased; in less than ten years, area known to us nowadays as the ‘Old Mine’ was completed exhausted. The short lifespan of the mines reaffirms the legendary reputation of sapphires from Kashmir. Not only are they some of the most beautiful and highly valued wonders of nature, but some of the most scarcely mined gemstones.

    Jewellery set with precious gemstones of reputable pedigree is greatly sought after by collectors and investors, this remarkable necklace sets itself apart by assembling a selection of the rarest sapphires, composed in a pleasant graduation accentuated by specially-cut diamonds. Each sapphire is cradled by petals of a tulip flower, resembling a treasure held closely in one’s palms. It stands as a testimony to the miracles of Mother Nature and Man’s spirit of perseverance in pursuit of perfection — when difficulties seem insurmountable and a mission appears to be impossible, this one-of-a-kind necklace proves us wrong.

657

A Very Rare and Important Sapphire and Diamond Necklace

Length approximately 405mm

Estimate
HK$17,000,000 - 23,000,000 
$2,200,000-3,000,000

Contact Specialist
Terry Chu
Head of Jewellery, Asia, Senior Director
+852 2318 2038

Jewels and Jadeite

Hong Kong Auction 28 May 2018