“Sous le marteau” came one of Van Cleef & Arpels most iconic necklace. The Zip necklace. It saw the light in 1951 after many years of innovation. It was the Duchess of Windsor who came with the idea to design a piece of zipper jewelry. The Zip necklace has a small device that is used to zip and unzip the necklace. Open it was worn as a necklace and closed as a bracelet. According to the auction house Leclere a few rubies were replaced by diamonds and the necklace needs to be revised. Although when I asked about it, the expert could still unzip the necklace. A truly beautiful piece of jewelry. VCA made several models in diamonds and in colored stones. Only a few came to auction in the last 60 years. Oh and the hammer price? 66.000,- euros.
Category Archives: Auction results
Afternoon of Vivid Blues in sapphire and tanzanite
This afternoon saw a great many Vivid Blues going under the hammer in Paris. All stones had a French or Swiss certificate of a gemological laboratory declaring that they found no signs of treatment and all stones are vivid blue in color.
nr. 47, 5,08 cts emerald cut sapphire
nr. 65, 10,03 cts cushion cut sapphire
nr. 85, 7,09 cts oval sapphire
nr. 118, 8,10 cts cushion cut sapphire
Lot number 47 is a emerald cut sapphire of 5,08 cts. This lovely vivid bleu went for 19.000 euros.
Next was a 10,03 cts cushion shaped sapphire going for 60.000 euros.
The third was a 7,09 cts royal bleu oval sapphire, for 28.000 euros (nr. 84) and the fourth stone again a cushion cut sapphire from Sri Lanka for 18.000 euros.
There were 2 more vivid bleus, but than in Tanzanite, nr. 72 a 18,96 cushion cut tanzanite for 24.000 euros and a 31,21 cts octagonal tanzanite for 44.000,- euros.
nr. 72, 18,96 cts tanzanite
nr. 145, 31,21 cts tanzanite
Empire State Building in gold
Ring from Georg Hornemann master gold smith.
A very special ring goes under the hammer today of German master goldsmith Georg Hornemann (75). It is the Empire State building in gold, diamonds and amethysts. I wonder if this will be the X-mas gift for a rich New Yorker, maybe an architect’s wife? The ring is estimated for 5000 to 5500 euros.
Georg Hornemann has together with his also award winning son Alexander Hornemann a workshop in Düsselfdorf, Germany. Georg Hornemann is the only person to date to receive the platinum guild international award for excellent jewellery design. He works together with international artists and makes besides extraordinary jewelry, objets d’art.
Browsing
After a day browsing online and real life auctions in Europe, I always learn such a great deal and I thought it would be a great way to share my experiences via this blog. Of course my main subject is jewelry; signed and non-signed pieces from 1940-‘50-‘60.
1950 rings
The monday afternoon auction had some interesting and afordable rings on offer. Like this series of 1950 rings.
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1) 18K yellow and diamond ring. Estimated for 450-500 and also went for 450,- euros
2) 18K yellow gold and diamond ring. Estimated for 1100 to 1200,- euros. Sold for 1200,-
3) 18K diamond and sapphire ring. Estimated for 800 to 900,- euros. Not sold.
4) 18K yellow gold and diamond ring. Estimated for 450,- and sold for 450,- euros
Rene Boivin by Madame Cailles
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This incredible ring was presented by the one and only Francoise Cailles, expert and author of the book “Rene Boivin, jeweler”. The ring “modele Quartre corps” consists of 4 rings which are set in rubies. This ring was made in the 1960/1970 by Rene Boivin. Continue reading
Auction results
Palmtree
A 1950/1960 diamond and enamal palmtree clip made by the House of Boucheron
This 18K white gold and platinum Boucheron “clip de revers” from the 1950’s doubled its appraisal in no time. From 2000 to 4500 Euros in one minute. The thing is that this clip misses a lot of enamel on one of its leaves.
Exotic flowers and trees like this palm tree clip were popular designs of the 1950’, but also exotic animals like paradise birds were one the themes to capture in gemstones often in combination with enamel. This clip has a brilliant trunk and baquette diamonds and green enamel for the stems and leaves.
Very heavy braid bracelet
In the same French auction a 1950 bracelet doubled it’s price. This bracelet weighs a whopping 112 grams. The bracelet is a very thick braid of 18K gold with a platinum clip set in diamonds with a tassel. A typical design of that time. Auction result: 4.500,- euros.