Come Back of the Chameleon

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

Christie's is selling on November 18 in Geneva a chameleon diamond 19.13 carats mounted as a pendant on a necklace. The catalog indicates that it is the largest diamond of its kind in briolette cut. It is therefore the same as I presented in this group a few months ago, and which had not been sold. It is now estimated KCHF 420.

Here's what I wrote at that time:

The colored diamonds join science. An extremely rare variety known as "chameleon" was first described in 1943. The guarantee of natural diamond is still ensured by the fact that its properties have not been explained and can not be replicated in the laboratory.

It is a green diamond with color changing after a prolonged stay in the dark or when it is slightly heated. It then comes back to its original color.

The gem that Christie's will sell on April 22, 2009 in New York is important: 19.13 carats. This is the biggest briolette shaped chameleon diamond ever analyzed by the Gemological Institute of America. This curiosity of nature has been made a pendant for a necklace, and is estimated 800 K$.

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

Successful come back. The estimate was conservative, as it can be understood in my article. The result, 987 KCHF including premium, is very close to the estimate that was published before the New York sale.

Experts from Christie's are familiar with their market. This result confirms that the original estimate was not exaggerated. This also means that the market, and even that of diamond, known sometimes cold days. Despite the considerable sums of money spent in prestige sales, the budgets of buyers are not unlimited.

In the same sale, a white pear shaped diamond of 62.30 carats was sold 8 MCHF including premium. The auction house, which was hoping for a very large auction result, had not published the estimate. It succeeded.