John Moran Auctioneers Achieves Dazzling Results at May 17th Auction Featuring Jewelry, Decorative & Pasadena, CA-- John Moran Auctioneers’ May 17th Antiques and Fine Art Sale, in which half the lots consisted of vintage and antique estate jewelry, achieved an impressive $1.4 million in sales. The gl
News-Antique.com - May 27,2011 - John Moran Auctioneers Achieves Dazzling Results at May 17th Auction Featuring Jewelry, Decorative & Fine Arts
- Jewelry 94% sold
- Sapphire and diamond ring realizes $336,000
- Sale realizes total of $1.4 million
- Buyers represent 13 countries
Pasadena, CA-- John Moran Auctioneers’ May 17th Antiques and Fine Art Sale, in which half the lots consisted of vintage and antique estate jewelry, achieved an impressive $1.4 million in sales. The global audience, representing thirteen countries, displayed a strong appetite for the jewelry, buying up 94% of the lots offered. Their enthusiasm was apparently infectious, as the early momentum gathered strength and spread to several other sale categories, with many lots of the highest quality and rarity soaring above presale estimates.
The top lot was a ring mounted with a rare natural Kashmir sapphire measuring 5.5 carats. Intense bidding between multiple floor bidders and fifteen phone bidders took dramatically large leaps up to the $200,000 mark, at which point three bidders remained. At $270,000, a new phone bidder jumped into the fray, adding new energy to the already electric atmosphere. The new bidder was unable to withstand the intense competition, however, dropping out a few minutes later, and another phone bidder won with a final bid of $336,000 (all prices realized include a 20% buyer’s premium).
A signed Cartier perfume bottle also caused a sensation. The diamond-shaped rock crystal bottle with a platinum top embellished with diamonds and sapphires measured a mere 2 inches high and was assigned a pre-sale estimate of $1000 - 1500. Another episode of heavy phone bidding propelled it to $33,000.
Victorian and Edwardian jewels were very strong sellers, with an 1880’s 9.90 carats, oval-cut natural Ceylon sapphire and pearl brooch, estimated to bring $8000/12,000, realizing $16,800. A circa 1900 2.50 carats Columbian emerald, set alongside a 2.6 carats H-I color diamond in a crossover-design ring, was another outstanding piece (estimate: $20,000/30,000). It brought $33,000. A stunning, and strikingly modern-looking, pair of Edwardian sapphire, seed pearl and diamond ear pendants, circa 1915, each suspending an oval-cut sapphire totaling 2.50 carats, sold well over the estimate of $2500/3500, at $10,800. A floral garland platinum-topped diamond necklace, in a delicate lacy design typical of Edwardian pieces, doubled its median pre-sale estimate, realizing $12,000, while an elaborate circa 1825 demi-parure, of multiple seed pearls strung and loosely sewn onto a mother-of-pearl frame, sold many times above the estimate of $300 – 500, realizing $2400.
Other jewelry highlights, among many, include:
• A single stone 3.54 carats E-color diamond and platinum ring (estimate: $25,000/35,000) that realized $45,000.
• A platinum and diamond ballerina ring centering a 2.55 carats round-cut G-color diamond (estimate: $15,000/20,000) that realized $24,000.
• A pair of platinum, carved jadeite and diamond ear pendants (estimate:
• $3000 – 5000) that sold for $16,800.
• An 18K yellow gold and ruby wide cuff, by Buccellati (estimate: $5000/7000) that brought $14,400.
• A circa 1960 18K yellow gold evening purse, by Van Cleef & Arpels, one of a number
