Singapore Jewelry Auction Fails to Sell Forty-Carat Diamond
\n(The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Bloomberg.)
\nBloomberg
\nBy Yoolim Lee<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
March 27 (Bloomberg) — A necklace with a 40-carat oblong diamond failed to sell at a jewelry auction in Singapore yesterday after the light bidding ended at S$332,000 ($205,000), short of the seller’s expectations.<\/p>\n
The seller’s estimate of the piece, which also contains 50 smaller diamonds set in an 18-carat white gold necklace, was between S$400,000 and S$600,000. About 200 people, mostly Singaporeans, attended the four-hour sale at Hilton Hotel Singapore, where 224 other items were also sold.<\/p>\n
“I would have loved to have sold it,” Ari Taibel, director of First State Auctions, which organized the event, said in an interview after the sale. “For big ticket items like this one, you need a few people driving up the price.”<\/p>\n
Singapore is emerging as a new market for jewelry auctions because of the increasing number of millionaires. The city-state of 4.35 million people had 48,500 people with assets of more than $1 million at the end of 2004, up 22 percent from a year earlier, according to the 2005 World Wealth Report by Merrill Lynch & Co. and Cap Gemini SA.<\/p>\n
A Singaporean couple made the highest bid for the 40-carat diamond necklace. They declined to be identified. Both the couple and the seller were “adamant” about sticking to their prices, Taibel said, declining to disclose the name of the seller.<\/p>\n
Another Singaporean couple bought at least three jewelry pieces with a combined value of more than S$60,000.<\/p>\n
Quality Diamonds<\/p>\n
The 40-carat D-color solitaire diamond, cut emerald-style, has a slight yellow tint. Quality diamonds have color between D and H and clarity between internally flawless and very small inclusion.<\/p>\n
First State, Australia’s biggest jewelry auctioneer, will hold its third jewelry auction in Singapore on May 28, Taibel, 36, said. Its first Singapore sale was on Jan. 22.<\/p>\n
The largest diamond ever to go up for auction was a 407.48- carat colored diamond which failed to sell in New York in 1988. The bidding at Christie’s International stopped at $12 million, short of the owners’ expectation. A carat is one fifth of a gram.<\/p>\n
The world’s most valuable jewel to be sold at auction was a 100.10-carat flawless diamond, which was sold for 19,858,500 Swiss francs ($15.2 million) in Geneva in 1995, according to Guinness World Records. It was bought by Sheikh Ahmed Fitaihi for his jewelry shops in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Singapore Jewelry Auction Fails to Sell Forty-Carat Diamond (The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Bloomberg.) Bloomberg By Yoolim Lee March 27 (Bloomberg) — A necklace with a 40-carat oblong diamond failed to sell at a jewelry auction in Singapore yesterday after the light bidding ended at S$332,000 ($205,000), short of the seller’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[411],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n