At the same April Christies sale, the even more magnificent emerald and diamond brooch that belonged to Catherine the Great, the notoriously oversexed Empress of Russia shown all tarted up on the right, will go on the block at a mere estimated $1 to $1.5 million. Based on provenance alone, it's likely bring a whole lot more. With a 60-70 carat hexagonal cut Columbian
emerald of exceptional quality and rare size set with rows of rose and old mine-cut diamonds, the Imperial gem is one of the outstanding jewels of the world. Empress Catherine amassed one of the greatest jewelry collections of all time and in 1776, upon the marriage of Sophie Dorothea, princess of Wurttemberg to her son Tsar Paul I, she presented her huge emerald to her new daughter-in-law as a wedding gift. The brooch remained the property of the Hollenzollern nobles for three generations. In 1972, it was sold to an American collector and remained hidden away in his vault for nearly forty years.
Earlier this month, Sotheby's Hong Kong sold off an extremely rare 5.18 carat vivid blue, internally flawless pear-shaped diamond from the De Beers Millenium collection for the princely sum of $6.4 million. That's about a million more than the top estimated price so as I said, the Great Recession has left some people still standing tall. Blue diamonds are amongst the rarest of all gems and the Millennium collection featured some of the largest and most vivid blues ever to reach the market. It included the 203 carat D- Flawless Millennium Star and the 27 carat fancy vivid blue internally flawless Heart of Eternity but neither of those gems has hit the block...yet.
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