- Title: CHINA-CHRISTIES-AUCTION/EMERALD Ruby necklace breaks world record in Hong Kong
- Date: 2nd June 2015
- Summary: HONG KONG, CHINA (JUNE 2, 2015) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE)(English) CHRISTIE'S INTERNATIONAL HEAD OF JEWELLERY, RAHUL KADAKIA, SAYING: "We've broken the record for the highest jewellery auction total in Asia and we've actually bested ourselves. The last one was 111 million US dollars in November 2013. And today on June 2, 2015, we've done 117 million US dollars. So a whole new
- Embargoed: 17th June 2015 13:00
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- Location: China
- Country: China
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA43VRVEJ5RK3AL996UDLST3GIQ
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- Story Text: A ruby and diamond necklace, by local design house Etcetera, broke a world record at Christie's jewellery auction in Hong Kong on Tuesday (June 2) by selling for USD 13 million.
Christie's Head of International Jewellery, Rahul Kadakia, said the ten minutes of tense phone bidding showed how sought after the piece was.
"The ruby necklace was comprised of fine rubies from Burma. The rarest source of rubies in the world. Fine red stones, unenhanced in any way, and put together in a necklace with diamonds by a designer called Edmond Chin whose jewellery workshop is called Etcetera. And this was a world record price of 13 million US dollars for a ruby and diamond necklace sold anywhere in the world at auction. So very, very heavy price," Kadakia told Reuters TV after the auction.
Kadakia said the evening saw a number of records broken, with the sale grossing the highest amount for any jewellery auction in Asia.
"We've broken the record for the highest jewellery auction total in Asia and we've actually bested ourselves. The last one was 111 million US dollars in November 2013. And today on June 2, 2015, we've done 117 million US dollars. So a whole new benchmark for jewellery auctions in the Asia-Pacific region," he said.
Among other records was a 10.33 carat circular-cut Kashmir sapphire which broke a world auction record price per carat for sapphire at almost USD 2.5 million or USD 240,381 per carat.
And a jadeite cabochon, ruby and diamond necklace hit a world auction record for a single jadeite cabochon, selling for almost USD 5.7 million.
A 38.51 pristine Colombian emerald, one of the highlights of the show and the biggest of its kind ever to be auctioned, sold for over USD 1.9 million with buyer's premium.
Kadakia also said that several jadeite items reached 10 to 15 times their estimate while several white diamond items were fiercely fought over by bidders on the phone, online and in the room. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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