Geneva: Sotheby’s will offer what it has called the “most valuable” set of earrings in auction history at its Geneva sale next month – though the two stones don’t match in color.
The pear-shaped “Apollo and Artemis Diamonds” - one blue and one pink — will jointly lead the Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels auction in the Swiss city on May 16 as separate lots, Sotheby’s said last week.
The auction house estimated the “Apollo Blue,” a 14.54-carat, fancy vivid blue, internally flawless diamond, at $38 million to $50 million, or up to $3.4 million per carat. The piece is the largest of its color and clarity to come under the hammer.
Its counterpart, the “Artemis Pink,” a 16-carat, fancy intense pink, VVS2-clarity diamond, is expected to fetch $12.5 million to $18 million, or up to $1.1 million per carat.
“These exquisite colored diamonds are enormously rare, and each is a wonderful stone in its own right,” said David Bennett, worldwide chairman of Sotheby’s international jewellery division. “Together, as a pair of earrings, they are breath-taking. We have named them after Apollo and Artemis, a twin brother and sister of great power and beauty who were among the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities.”
In a separate Magnificent Jewels auction in New York on April 25, Sotheby’s will offer a range of colored diamonds and gemstones, including a hexagonal, 34.40-carat Colombian emerald. The stone is estimated at $800,000 to $1.2 million.
