2010 was a record-breaking year for Bonhams' Jewellery Department, and it doesn't seem to have quietened down this year.
The auctioneer has been enjoying successes around the world, including recently in San Francisco with its Jewelry and Watches sale of August 19 held during Pebble Beach Car Week.
Highlights of the sale, staged at the Quail Lodge in Carmel, included a diamond and 18 karat bicolour gold bangle bracelet.
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The piece's estimated total diamond weight is 2.40 carats, weighing approximately 81.2 grams. Estimated at $9,000-12,000, the 2 1/4inches-diameter bangle surpassed its lower estimate to bring $10,370.
Appropriately enough for Pebble Beach Car Week, automobilia-themed pieces saw particular success.
These included a diamond and 18k gold Rolls Royce radiator wristwatch which sold for $7,076, well over its pre-sale estimate of $3,500-4,500.
Diamonds delight collectors Down Under
Fast-forward to this week, and Bonhams August 23 auction at the Sydney, Byron Kennedy Hall saw a prized necklace leave all the other lots behind for AU$152,400 (US$158,767).
The diamond line bracelet has 11 round brilliant-cut diamonds of varying size, set to individual boxes on an articulated mount in rectangular sections.
As you can see in the photograph, each diamond is set to a floral motif design. According to Bonhams' lot notes, the necklace's known total diamond weight is 23.04 carats.
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Accompanied by a GSL Diamond Grading Report, it's no surprise that this necklace beguiled Aussie bidders and emerged as the leading lot in Bonhams' Sydney sale.
If the international auction house can continue to offer pieces of this calibre, then it could be looking forward to further Word Record results by the end of 2011.
Proof, if any were needed, that the rare collectible jewellery markets are thriving despite global economic turmoil.
Watch this space for more news from the jewellery markets.
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