Image credit: Christie's
Christie’s New York said its Magnificent Jewels auction slated for June 8, 2022 will put The Light of Africa Diamond on the block with an estimate ranging between $11,000,000 to $18,000,000. Besides, the auction includes an exquisite assemblage of jewels from private collections, alongside signed jewels by Bhagat, Boucheron, Bulgari, Cartier, David Webb, Graff, Harry Winston, Raymond Templier, Tiffany & Co., and Van Cleef & Arpels. The auction will be exhibited at Christie’s New York from 3-7 June.
The Light of Africa Diamond is a D-color, Flawless, Type IIa, emerald-cut diamond of 103.49 carats, with excellent polish and symmetry. The diamond was cut from a 299.3 carat rough, unearthed from The Cullinan Diamond Mine. The Cullinan Diamond Mine has produced some of the most historic and sensational diamonds including the Great Star of Africa and the Second Star of Africa which are both part of the British Crown Jewels set in the Sovereign’s Sceptre and the Imperial State Crown.
Other leading highlights of the sale include Twelve Jewels by JAR from the Estate of Ann Getty and jewelry from The Ann & Gordon Getty Collection. Ann Getty’s striking group of jewels by JAR is one of the largest and most important private collections of works by the visionary designer, Joel Arthur Rosenthal, to appear at auction. Several jewels from Mrs. Getty’s collection were exhibited at major museums worldwide, including London’s Somerset House, the San Francisco Legion of Honor Museum, and the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art’s historic JAR retrospective in 2013.
The sale also includes exceptional jewelry from notable private collections, such as: a selection of Bulgari jewelry from the collection of Signora Silvana Mangano; a Van Cleef & Arpels set of coral and gold jewelry (estimate: $30,000-40,000), formerly in the collection of Mrs. Brooke Astor; and a pair of emerald and diamond earrings of 13.79 and 12.14 carats (estimate: $1,000,000-1,800,000) from the Property of a Private Collector.
