Diamonds have been an item sold at auction by the major auction houses of the world for decades. While it was once only possible to buy diamonds straight from diamond dealers, especially those of a the highest caliber, the last century opened up new channels for diamond buying. These include buying from auction houses and buying over the internet. However, in the diamond world today, the biggest headlines and most exciting news in the diamond world comes from the auction houses, like Sotheby’s and Christie’s. Let’s focus on one specific auction house.

Although it is not yet known as a powerhouse among the global auction houses, Poly Auction (Hong Kong) Limited has been establishing its name in Asia since 2012. Poly Culture Group Corporation, the mother company behind Poly Auction HK, is China’s largest state owned auction house and has the largest Asian art auctions globally. In 2014, its spring and autumn auctions achieved $252 million USD, falling in total sales results in third place right after global power houses Sotheby’s and Christie’s. That is an incredible statistic for an auction house that was only established 4 years ago. In 2014 Poly Auction HK went public in Hong Kong. It currently has 11 offices globally and covers much of what the top 2 global players do; artwork, jewels & watches, and wine. It is rapidly expanding globally beyond Asia via the Art market.

Important Jewels Auction Surprising Results

In the scheme of discussing auction houses, we have now established that Poly Auction HK is formidable. On April 5th of this year, they held their spring Important Jewels auction in Hong Kong, making 188 lots available for public bidding. The majority of the items that were offered were sapphires, rubies, other semi-precious gems and most the precious to Asians – jadeite jewelry. Several prominent fancy color diamonds were also available.

Several globally known brand name pieces of jewelry were amongst the items displayed, such as Chanel, Bulgari, Van Cleef & Arpels, Harry Winston, Cartier and Graff Diamonds. This was both exciting and monumental because the power of a Brand has been increasing in the past few years more than ever before when it comes to unique jewels. Branding is becoming increasingly powerful in the desirability and value of jewels, and 2016 and beyond will attest to that effect. In the April 5th auction, this was extraordinarily plain to see. And this effect is only magnified when looking at the results in Sotheby’s or Christie’s!

The top lot in terms of valuation at the Poly Auction HK was a 3.80 carat Fancy Vivid Blue VVS2 diamond which was evaluated to sell at a price between $6.154 million to $8.462 million, or $1.62 million to $2.23 million per carat. This extraordinary diamond is surrounded with pink diamonds and mounted on an 18k rose gold ring. The surprise came when the diamond failed to sell. When a diamond fails to sell, it means that it did not meet the minimum reserve or to meet the minimum valuation. In this case, the diamond didn’t sell because it failed to meet the minimum of $1.62 million per carat.

The 3.80 carat Fancy Vivid Blue VVS2 diamond ring surrounded by pink diamonds

This failure is in theory a rather shocking development. According to our research, a 3.39 carat Fancy Vivid Blue IF diamond was sold for a record $1.716 million per carat on November 25, 2014 at Christie’s Hong Kong.

The 3.39 carat Fancy Vivid Blue IF diamond Moussaieff ring with pink diamonds

Prior to that, a 3.32 carat Fancy Vivid Blue IF diamond was sold by Sotheby’s Hong Kong a month earlier on October 7, 2014 for $1.614 million per carat (making it the record is in the 3-5 carat size category).

The 3.32 carat Fancy Vivid Blue IF diamond ring

Knowing how rare these diamonds are and how the market has been moving in the last 18 months, I was quite surprised that the 3.80 carat Fancy Vivid Blue diamond from the April 5 auction failed to sell. It should have sold, or at least reach the minimum evaluation given by the auction house, especially given that its lowest estimate was the per carat price of a similarly sized Fancy Vivid Blue diamond from 2 years ago!

Blue diamonds aside, other pieces of jewelry were estimated to sell for monumental prices as well, and it was interesting to see which ones managed to sell (hint: the branded ones).

The following top evaluated item was an important double-stranded jadeite bead necklace, signed by Cartier, which sold for $2.74 million. Its evaluation was at $2.95 million to $4.49 million. Its sell price indicates that the seller had put a lower reserve than the estimate of the auction house. However, the fact that it managed to sell, especially at a price so close to the estimate, can largely be attributed to the fact that the necklace was made by Cartier.

The Cartier double stranded jadeite necklace

The third highest evaluated lot for the evening was a Colombian emerald and diamond necklace, earrings, and ring set evaluated at $2.31 to $3.33 million, and it did not sell. It was also not branded.

The Colombian emerald and diamond necklace, earrings, and ring set

A few more sapphire and ruby rings and earrings also appeared at the auction, but did not sell.

The 2nd top lot for a fancy color diamond in the auction was an impressive 27.51 carat Fancy Vivid Yellow VVS1 diamond mounted on an 18k gold and platinum ring. It was produced by Scarselli Diamonds, which is run by the famous Scarselli family in New York, a now third generation manufacturer of unique fancy color diamonds for clients all over the world. The ring was also part of a special exhibit called “The Beauty of Science: Gems & Gemology Celebrates 80 Years” at the GIA Headquarters in Carlsbad, California. The ring was evaluated at a price between $1.41 million to $2.05 million, and was sold for $1.675 million or just under $61k per carat. It did not make a world record price per carat, but was still a solid price for such a diamond, considering it has both historical importance and the brand standing behind it.

27.51 carat Fancy Vivid Yellow VVS1 diamond ring by Scarselli Diamonds

Brands of the Future

The market is behaving quite clearly, especially in Asia where brand names are extremely important to diamond purchases. In Asia, the high end market of consumers desires, and is willing to pay for top Luxury Brand Name Diamonds, and this will only increase moving forward. Among the top fancy color diamonds manufacturers we can find Graff, Scarselli, Lev Leviev, Rachminov 1891 and Dehres, who have established quite a name in Asia. We will definitely hear more about some of these Brands as they grow their businesses, especially in Asia. They certainly will be continuing to prove the added value of their brand names to their jewelry.