Lily Safra's jewels on auction 14 May include this pair of 19.43 and 19.16 carat pear-shaped diamond ear clips (photo: Christies)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Some CHF20 million in jewels will be auctioned for charity by Christies Monday night 14 May, in a sale called “Jewels for Hope” at the Hotel des Bergues in Geneva. The collection is owned by Lily Safra, one of Geneva’s most famous philanthropists along with her late husband, banker Edmond Safra, who died in a fire in 1999, a case of arson for which his bodyguard was imprisoned.
Lily Safra has headed the Safra Foundation since 2000; it provides financial support for projects in a number of fields, including religion, cultural and humanitarian relief.
Edmond Safra was her fourth husband; they were married for 20 years. He was estimated to have a fortune worth $2.5 billion in the early 1990s, amassed during his 40-year career as a financier. He founded the Trade Development Bank in Geneva and Republic National Bank of New York.
The proceeds from the sale will benefit 20 charities supported by the Safra Foundation.
JAR diamond and ruby brooch, estimated value $1.25-1.5 million, to be auctioned Monday night at Christies sale in Geneva
The collection shows a wide range of design work, from a 1911 diamond lavaliere necklace by Cartier, estimated value CHF200-400,000, to 18 pieces designed for Lily Safra by contemporary jeweler Joel Rosenthal (JAR), the largest single-owner collection of his work seen at an auction.
The star of the JAR pieces is a ruby and diamond Camellia flower brooch created in 2003 and estimated at $1.2-1.5 million.
But diamonds are likely to bring in the highest bids, with two rings each expected to fetch at least $3 million: “The 34.05 carat rectangular-cut diamond ring (D/VVS1 potentially flawless, Type IIa) is a perfect stone estimated at $3.6-5 million” according to Christies.
“Formerly in the collection of Luz Mila Patiño, Countess du Boisrouvray, the famous 32.08 carats cushion-shaped Burmese ruby and diamond ring by Chaumet is offered with an estimate of $3-5 million.” A pair of diamond pearl-shaped clip earrings are estimated in the same price range.
Christies is holding its regular spring fine jewelry auction Wednesday 16 May in Geneva.
Ed. note: the Safra jewels are on display at the Hotel des Bergues until 18:00 this evening.
The annual American Citizens Abroad (ACA) fundraiser auction is coming up and all are welcome to attend.
7 pm – Cocktails – Cash bar. 8 pm – Auction with celebrity guest auctioneer, Mark Butcher of Radio Frontier.
Lots of great auction items.
American Citizens Abroad (ACA), the voice of Americans overseas, is a non-profit, non-partisan, all-volunteer organization that represents the interests of Americans living and working outside the U.S.
Location: Mandarin Oriental Hotel du Rhone, Geneva
Link out: http://www.aca.ch
Date: 21 Mar 2012
Start time: 19:00
End time: 22:00
Ferdinand Hodler, "Genfersee von Chexbres aus" (Lake Geneva from Chexbres), 1904, sold by Sotheby's in Zurich 28 November for CHF7.14 million
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – The art market is alive and thriving, Sotheby’s Swiss art sales Monday evening 28 November in Zurich made clear.
A 1904 painting of Lake Geneva from Chexbres by Ferdinand Hodler fetched CHF7.14 million, well above its pre-sale estimate of CHF3-5m. It was sold by telephone to a private collector.
The painting’s price is not a record for a Hodler work, but a record was set for a painting by Alfred Anker, with “Strickendes Mädchen, Kleinkind in der Wiege hütend”, which sold for CHF6.13 million. The 1885 oil portrait shows a girl, knitting and watching a toddler in a cradle. It reflects childhood, a theme that recurs often in Anker’s portraits.
Hodler’s priciest painting to date is a view of Lake Geneva from the fields above Saint Prex, sold in 2007 for CHF10.9m.
The Zurich auction Monday brought together an unusually large group of representative 19th and 20th century paintings by several of Switzerland’s most popular artists. Total sales were CHF17.41 for lots that together were estimated at CHF11m before the sale.
Sotheby’s notes that the Hodler painting from a private collection, on the market for the first time since 1963, is a close cousin to one in Geneva.
“The view of Lake Geneva from Chexbres inspired many landscapes by Hodler (1853-1918) between 1895 and 1911. The artist, however, painted only two landscapes from the vantage point featured in this iconic work. Dating from circa May 1904, this oil on canvas was probably executed shortly before a very similar canvas which is now part of the collection of the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire in Geneva. It reflects the stylistic direction taken by Hodler in the early 1900s. In 1904, the artist took part in the Vienna Secession and the influence of the Jugenstil movement is clearly mirrored in the ornamentation, curves and lines of the painting. Testament to Hodler’s style are also the composition’s parallel design, the depiction of forms as large spreads of colour and the dominance of the colour blue, symbol of transcendence for the artist.”
Strong sales for panoply of Swiss artists’ works shows growing interest
Other artworks of note that were sold Monday:
This annual charity Gala will be music to your ears (and hearts). An elegant black tie fundraising dinner that includes a personal appearance by Belinda Carlisle, an auction by Sothebys to raise money for a local charity.
Location: Hotel Kempinski – 19, Quai du Mont-Blanc, Geneva, 1201, Switzerland
Link out: http://www.100womeninhedgefunds.org/pages/genev…
Start date: 24 Nov 2011
Start time: 18:30
End date: 25 Nov 2011
End time: 1:00
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Sotheby’s star diamond at its November sales in Geneva comes without much of a history, but that is no shortcoming: the new gem is expected to be sold for $11-15 million when it goes to auction 15 November.
The rough of the Sun-Drop Diamond was found in South Africa in 201.
Sotheby’s holds the world record for selling the most expensive diamond, the Pink Graff, sold for $46.16 million in Geneva in 2010.
The diamond, at 110.03 Carats, “has been graded Fancy Vivid Yellow, the highest colour grading for a yellow diamond, by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA),” says Sothebys
“This exceptional stone ranks as the largest known pear-shaped fancy vivid yellow diamond in the world, and has a purity of VVS1.”
The GIA, in its monograph on the gem, was rich with praise: “Its magnificent color combined with impressive size and uncommon cut make it a paragon in the world of diamonds.”
It was shown in London at city’s Natural History Museum earlier this year. The diamond was cut by Cora International, whose headquarters are in New York.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – When Italian dictator Benito Mussolini tried to flee Italy at the end of the second world war, heading for Switzerland, his suitcase was confiscated by the Italian partisans and turned over to US army authorities after he was executed.
The bag, including military garb for the dictator, and clothes for his mistress, Claretta Petraci, ended up in the hands of a US army corporal, Paul Moriconi, who died in 2010. His family, in New York, sold the items at an auction this week for over $5,000, according to AP.
African Bakongo dog statue sold for CHF255,000
"Yeti" skin sold for CHF18,200
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The tempting Yeti skin at last week’s auctions at the Hôtel des Ventes netted a cool CHF3 million, but the hottest item on the block was an African artwork, the statue of a Congolese Bakongo dog that had belonged to an old Geneva family. It went for 255 times its estimated value of CHF1-1,500, selling to great surprise for CHF255,000 at the end of heated bidding in increments of CHF5,000.
The Yeti skin, really a blue bear skin, sold for CHF18,200. It had been estimated at CHF3,000 and was sold to a Belgian resident in Switzerland, a collector.
Other prize items at the sale included two Louis Vuitton vintage trunks that went for CHF10,900 and CHF12,100, an 1839 Appenzell wedding chest that sold for CHF19,500 (estimate CHF1,500-2,000) and a Dior bag for CHF200. The latter was part of the 500 items the auction house put on sale for under CHF300 to make the sales affordable to a wide public.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The most affordable auction in Geneva, one with some 500 items that are valued at under CHF300, features an unusual item this year, a blue bearskin that was for a long time reputed to be that of a fabled Yeti. The annual summer event at the Hôtel des Ventes in Geneva is set for 20-23 June, with a preview open to the public Friday to Sunday, 17-19 June.
The pre-sale estimate for the auction is a total of CHF2 to 3 million, but the mix is enormous this year, in terms of price but also the items for auction. The Yeti skin may be the great curiosity item but fine jewelry estimates start at CHF1,000 and run up to CHF80,000, including a diamond and sapphire ring from Ceylon for an estimated CHF20-30,000 and a black diamond put at CHF5,000. Chanel and Louis Vuitton vintage bags will be on the block as well as pre-Colombian artefacts ranging from CHF500 to 3,000.
The Yeti skin, to be auctioned 22 June, is estimated to have a value of CHF2,000-3,000. It was reportedly carried back from Tibet by Edmund Hillary in 1959 and the skin has since been certified by the British Museum as belonging to one of the region’s blue bears, Ursus arctos pruinosus, which some believe to have been the mysterious Yeti.
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Christies Europe will auction off an extraordinary art collection 21 and 22 June, the last of the artworks owned by Ernst Beyeler and his wife Hildy, whose collection has often been called one of the great private art collections of the 20th century.
Agency AFP reports that the collection sale will mark the close of the couple’s Basel gallery and includes work from iconic 20th century artists including Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso, Matisse, Klee and Roy Lichtenstein.
The sale will come just two days after Art Basel ends. The artworks will be part of a Christies evening sale in London the 21st and day sale the 22nd.
Beyeler was the founder of Art Basel, the world’s largest contemporary and modern art fair (note: which last week announced it is adding a third fair, Art Hong Kong to the main fair and a second one, Art Basel Miami Beach).
His career in art took off when he transformed and developed the antiquarian bookshop of a former employer into
Beyeler Museum (photo, ©2011 Mark Niedermann / Beyeler Foundation)
the Beyeler Gallery in Basel, which allowed him to build his personal collection.
Ernst Beyeler died, age 88, in February 2010, two years after the death of his wife and close art partner Hildy.
He left instructions for the gallery to be closed upon his death, and the private and business collections to be sold, with proceeds to go to support the Beyeler Foundation in Basel.
The Foundation was created to provide a home, the Beyeler Museum, for the collection, and its purpose is to make the collection available to the public. The museum opened in 1997 and it has become hugely popular, with 300,000 visitors a year.
A Segantini exhibition that ended 25 April had pulled in 100,000 visitors between January 16 and 20 March.
La lecture by Pablo Picasso, sold at Sotheby's auction for £12.2 million 8 February: Marie-Thérèse Walter as his model
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – All eyes were on Marie-Thérèse Walter, Pablo Picasso’s young lover, in 1932, and again 8 February 2011 in London
The artist’s rendering of his mistress in January 1932 in a painting called La Lecture was one of the hits of his first retrospective, at the Kunsthaus in Zurich from September to November 1932.
Tuesday night an anonymous private owner sold it at a Sotheby’s auction in London for £25.2 million, about twice the estimated sales price, after furious telephone bidding.
The 1932 Zurich show featured several paintings with his then-hidden mistress as the model. He had met Walter five years earlier, when she was just 17, on the streets of Paris.
The young woman’s long blond hair and athletic form were mostly folded into contemporary forms that effectively hid her identity, with one exception which caught the eye of his wife, Olga.
In La Lecture, the model appears more forcefully as an individual, and the wife began to realize there was a mistress.
Zurich’s 1932 retrospective was the first for Picasso, and the first time a living painter had a major show in a museum, as opposed to a gallery.
La ceinture jaune: Marie'Thérèse Walter, Pablo Picasso, 1932 (courtesy, Zurich Kunsthaus), one of several paintings of the artist's mistress that were part of his 1932 show
The year was a crucial one for Picasso, who painted many of his best-known works then and, as CBC puts it, “cemented his reputation”, notably through the Zurich show, which he himself curated.
Zurich’s Kunsthaus repeated, on a smaller scale, the 1932 show as part of its centennial building celebrations in a show that closed 30 January 2011. Several paintings with Walter as the model were included, but not La Lecture.
Review, GenevaLunch, Zurich Picasso show in 2010-2011
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The conclusion is dry and to the point: “The frequency and severity of risks to global stability have amplified, while the ability of global governance systems to deal with them has not.”
The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Risk 2011 was published 12 January, in time to give world economic and political leaders fodder for discussion before the next WEF meeting in Davos, in canton Graubuenden, Switzerland.
The 2011 meeting takes place 26-30 January.
The new report was published on the same day that Portugal caused initial nervousness that it might be the next eurozone bailout country when it turned to markets to raise euro 1.5 billion at a bond auction. Fears over the euro eased later in the day as the auction proved successful.
The new WEF report describes three key risk areas:
- macro-economic risk: “Macroeconomic imbalances, fiscal crises in the developed economies, massive unfunded social liabilities and weak financial markets form a complex nexus of economic risk. Crisis-induced indebtedness has reduced the capacity to handle further shocks to critically low levels.”
- the illegal economy: the value of illegal trade around the world in 2010 is estimated to have been $1.3 trillion, and the risk of yet more illegal trade keeps countries trapped in a cycle of poverty. “Greater numbers of failed and fragile states, increasing levels of illicit trade, organized crime and corruption form a nexus of criminal risk. A networked world, governance failures and economic disparity create opportunities for illegality to flourish.”
- resource limits to growth, especially for food, water and energy, where there is double-digit growth in demand: “Shortages of core resources will only create more conflict between the social groups, nations and industries that need them.”
The report was published at the same time as the US government’s year-end report on agricultural stocks, which confirmed experts predictions of a drop in world food supplies thanks to major world weather problems, despite near-record crops for grains in the US.
The newely baptized “Graff Pink” diamond goes to the king of diamonds
CHF45 million for a pink diamond
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The final ring on the cash register and the total for a hard day’s work at Sotheby‘s in Geneva was CHF103,418,050 million and a bit, a record total for a jewelry auction.
The third sale of the day at Beau-Rivage Hotel, in the evening, brought in CHF90,472,100. Fully half of that came from the sale of one diamond ring: CHF45,442,500 ($46.2m), well over the pre-auction estimate of CHF27-38m.
“Most fabulous” diamond Graff has seen
The top-selling gem had four bidders. In the end it went to 72-year-old Laurence Graff, who calls the Swiss resort of Gstaad home. His bid was handled by the chairman of Sotheby’s Asia, Patti Wong.
The buyer took advantage of his right to name it, and the diamond will now be known as the Graff Pink. “It is the most fabulous diamond I’ve seen in the history of my career and I’m delighted to have bought it,” says Graff.
He is a man who knows his diamonds. The new owner is from London’s East End, a school dropout and self-made man who has become one of Britain’s wealthiest people through his diamond business.
Forbes in 2009 said he was worth $2.2 billion and wrote that “jewelry business insiders call British diamond merchant Graff the new Harry Winston”, a fitting reference since the diamond for which he paid CHF45m Tuesday night was sold for the first and last time by Winston, 60 years earlier.
Other diamonds are more costly: the Hope diamond is valued at $100 million and others are more, but some of these are museum pieces rather than wearable jewelry.
Sotheby’s auction, important private collection of Swiss art that includes 2 by Ferdinand Hodler
Location: Zurich Sotheby\\\’s
Link out: http://www.sothebys.com/app/paddleReg/paddlereg…
Date: 14 Jun 2010
Le Repas Frugal print for sale in London
A collection of 57 prints, including three by Pablo Picasso, will be up for sale in London in September.
The Spanish painter’s works, to be auctioned off at Sotheby’s, are expected to bring over £2.5 million ( CHF4 million).
Heading the sale are three very important Picasso works expected to fetch over CHF2 million alone: The Frugal Repast (Le Repas Frugal) from his Blue Period, The Weeping Woman (La Femme qui Pleure) from 1937, and The Minotauromachy (La Minotauromachie) considered to be the artist’s masterpiece of printmaking.
In early May Picasso’s “Nude, Green Leaves and Bust” sold for a record $106.5 million (CHF122 million).
Hammer price on this rare blue diamond: CHF8,930,500
Total sale close to CHF60 million ($53.97m)
Update 10:40 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Currencies and gold for investors seeking a refuge this week suddenly paled Tuesday night, when it comes to investments, compared to diamonds – the cut and polished variety you put on a girl’s finger.
Sotheby’s latest fine jewels auction saw its top “Very rare Fancy Intense Blue diamond ring” go for nearly double the low end of its estimated price (CHF4.32m) when the gavel came down on CHF8.9 million ($8.03m) – and two other lovely diamond rings went for prices nearly as high.
The sale netted a total of CHF59,995,700.
The record for the per carat price for diamonds was broken: it had been set at Sotheby’s in Geneva in November 2009: $796,178 per carat for a 3.17 carat round brilliant cut stone at the time. The new top sale at Sotheby’s put the 7.64 carat fancy blue’s per carat price at over $1,050,636.
Alexandre Reza diamond ring: CHF7,026,500 at Sotheby's, Geneva
The catalog description of the gem and ring: Claw-set with a fancy intense blue cushion-shaped diamond weighing 7.64 carats, mounted in yellow gold and platinum, size 51.
The other two rings that significantly boosted the total were a “magnificent diamond ring” that went for CHF8,818,500 and an Alexandre Reza “highly important and exceptionally rare” diamond ring for CHF7,026,500.
Background, Geneva Living (including video with Sotheby’s David Bennett, chairman of the company’s European and Middle East jewelry division.
London, England (GenevaLunch) – Some of the most famous clothes from the haute couture wardrobe of actress Audrey Hepburn were sold for £270,000 at an auction in London Tuesday 8 December. Hepburn, who died and was buried in 1992 in Tolochenaz, Vaud, in Switzerland, where she spent much of her adult life, was one of the first Unicef Goodwill ambassadors. Half the money will go to the Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund and Unicef for their joint venture, “All Children in School” Unicef education project.
The clothes, sold by Kerry Taylor auctions, were from 1953 to the late 1960s.
Ebay, the online auction company, has sold 65 percent of its interest in Skype to a group of investors led by Silver Lake Partners for $2 billion. For Bloomberg it signifies a return to the way investors behaved before the market “exploded” and the Financial Times describes it as curtains coming down on a deal that has come to be seen as Ebay’s biggest strategic mistake.
The US Federal Reserve, the country’s central bank, says that it sees the US economy beginning to stabilize after months of recession. But it kept short term interest rates on hold, near zero percent since December, after its FOMC, rate-setting committee meeting, Wednesday, 12 August. The Fed pointed to improving financial markets as an indicator that the recession is coming to an end. The bond markets dipped a little on the news, disappointed that the Fed was not going to increase its bond market interventions, but then came back. Major stock indices were at highs since the crisis began, and the dollar strengthened against the Yen. Reuters
Unemployment figures in the US are at an all-time high of 9.4 percent, and President Barack Obama says he believes they could go as high as 10 percent. Housing foreclosures set new records, too: more than 360,000 homeowners received a foreclosure filing in July, meaning that legal action was being taken to repossess their homes because they can’t maintain mortgage payments. In the first seven months of the year, 2.3 million homes have been repossessed, auctioned or foreclosed, a record. Reuters, Financial Times (pay), NZZ (Ger)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The owner of a fancy blue diamond sold by Sotheby’s 12 May, which set two records, has been named: Joseph Lau Luen-Hung, a Hong Kong collector, paid $9.48 million for the 7.03-carat fancy vivid blue internally flawless cushion-shaped diamond. He has named it the “Star of Josephine,” exercising his right as the first owner of the gem.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Fears that the jewelry market might be floundering in this economic crisis appear to be unfounded, with Sotheby’s selling CHF40 million worth of diamonds, rubies and other fine jewels as rings, necklaces, bracelets and tiaras Tuesday 12 May.
The rare fancy vivid blue diamond ring that was the centrepiece of the auction went for CHF10,498,50, ($9,488,754), comfortably above the estimated CHF6.8-10 million pricetag. The diamond was found in 2008 in South Africa’s famed Petra Diamonds’ Cullinan mine.
Rare "Vivid Blue Diamond" to be auctioned 12 May 2009 at Sotheby's, Geneva
Geneva, Switzerland (Genevalunch) – The shining star of the show when Sotheby’s auctions off its next batch of jewels 12 May in Geneva will be a rare “Fancy Vivid Blue” 7.03 carat diamond from a rough stone of 26.58 carats, never worn. The new owner will have the privilege of naming the stone, which is expected to fetch CHF6.8-10 million. The diamond was found in 2008 in South Africa’s famed Petra Diamonds’ Cullinan mine.
Another Fancy Vivid Blue diamond failed to sell in November 2008 in Geneva, raising questions at the time about the impact of the financial crisis on the fine jewels market.
Update 19:45 Mohandas Gandhi’s famous wire-rim glasses and other personal effects, including his leather sandals and bowl, were auctioned off for nearly $2.1 million, with the auction house saying “Ultimately, the lot went to a prominent Indian businessman who intends is to bring the items back to India for permanent public display.” The seller, peace activist James Otis, withdrew them while bidding was going on and Auctioneers Antiquorom is reported to have said it will wait two weeks to settle the sale. A dispute arose between Otis and India, which says the objects belong to the Indian people, recalling the recent attempted auction in Paris of ancient Chinese statues. MSNBC
It was one of only 17 Bugattis like it and it sat in a garage in Tyneside, England without being started for 50 years: Sunday it was auctioned off in Paris for €3.4 billion. BBC
Title: Important watches auction
Location: Geneva
Link out: Click here
Description: Auction of Swiss watches at Sotheby’s. Bidding prices begin at CHF1,000
Date: 16 Nov 2008
