On 8 December 2020, connoisseurs of magnificent jewels may have the chance to bid for this sapphire and diamond bracelet at Christie’s in New York. A really distinctive piece, it options a particularly uncommon Kashmir sapphire of 43.10 carats, cushion-cut and set in a mattress of flawless diamonds.

Sapphires have at all times attracted enormous curiosity in Christie’s international salerooms. Right here we glance again at among the most interesting examples.

This rectangular-cut sapphire from Myanmar is the stone by which all different sapphires needs to be judged on measurement, form, readability and color.

The sapphire additionally has notable provenance. It was bought in 1934 by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. from the Nizam of Hyderabad, in a deal brokered by the jeweller Raymond Yard. Within the Nineteen Forties Rockefeller requested Pierre Cartier of the eponymous French jewelry home to recut the stone into this distinctive form and mount it for his spouse, Abby.

That is the biggest sapphire on our listing, by fairly some margin, and among the many 5 largest sapphires on this planet.

First recorded in Cartier’s workshop in 1913, this historic sapphire pendant necklace was famously worn by Queen Marie — granddaughter of Queen Victoria of Nice Britain and Czar Alexander II of Russia — to the coronation of her husband King Ferdinand of Romania in 1922. In 1947 it was offered to New York’s ‘King of Diamonds’, Harry Winston. It then entered the gathering of the Greek Royal Household earlier than being auctioned at Christie’s in 2003.

Richard Burton gave this magnificent sugarloaf cabochon sapphire to Elizabeth Taylor on her fortieth birthday in February 1972.

This very good necklace, weighing roughly 52.72 carats, was provided in The Assortment of Elizabeth Taylor: The Legendary Jewels Half I in New York in 2011, attaining a world report worth per carat for a Burmese stone at public sale.

Generally known as the Blue Belle of Asia, this extremely prized peacock-blue sapphire with wonderful readability and well-documented provenance is deemed probably the most precious sapphire on this planet.

There are only a few sapphires weighing greater than 350 carats, and this instance, at roughly 392.52 carats, realised greater than double its low estimate within the Christie’s Magnificent Jewels sale in Geneva on 11 November 2014, establishing a brand new world report for any sapphire offered at public sale.

This distinctive necklace, set with 21 top-quality Kashmir sapphires carrying a complete of 109.08 carats, took greater than 15 years to finish.

The historical past of Kashmir sapphires begins in 1881, when a landslide within the Zanskar vary of the northwestern Himalayas first revealed sapphire-bearing rocks. The vast majority of the world’s most lovely and extremely valued sapphires have been mined from the area, together with the current stones.

By 1887, Kashmir’s first sapphire mine had been exhausted and manufacturing ceased. Because of this, gem-quality Kashmir sapphires are actually extraordinarily uncommon. With so many attractive sapphires in only one piece, the Peacock Necklace is likely one of the rarest objects to have appeared at public sale.

This extraordinary pinky-orange sapphire, referred to as a Padparadscha sapphire, comes from Sri Lanka — in any other case referred to as the Island of Gems. Its title derives from the Sinhalese for ‘aquatic lotus blossom’, and its pinky-orange color from a mixture of well-balanced hint components within the gemstone.

Padparadscha sapphires are usually a salmon-pink color, making this massive orange-tinted instance, which weighs over 28 carats, extraordinarily uncommon.

The eight velvety-blue, cushion-shaped Kashmir sapphires on this Cartier bracelet graduate down in measurement from the biggest within the center, and are mounted in platinum between pavé-set diamonds.

Made in France in 1923, its clear, smooth strains and refined, angular look seize the essence of the Artwork Deco model.

The 2015 sale of this gemstone of Kashmir origin noticed a brand new report for the best worth paid per carat for a sapphire at Christie’s. Its good readability had been confirmed the yr earlier than when scientific evaluation on the SSEF (Swiss Gemmological Institute) licensed that its sparkle was pure, and never because of warmth remedy.

Its uncommon circular-cut form additionally helped it to soar at public sale — as did its diamond-surround and the truth that it was mounted in an 18k gold ring.

Flanked by multi-coloured gems, this cushion-shaped sapphire, weighing roughly 58.29 carats, is about in a brooch designed by modern Asian designer Anna Hu.

Her work combines Jap and Western influences, and is usually impressed by classical music and nature, in addition to by Impressionism and Artwork Nouveau. When it went below the hammer in Geneva in 2013, the Côte d’Azur brooch offered for nearly double its low estimate.