Pre-Auction Analysis: June 8th, 2021, Christie’s New York, Magnificent Jewels

As most of the industry has been prevented from traveling to New York during this challenging period, this Auction Analysis could help those who would like to bid without physically inspecting the goods.                                                 

Our Christie’s New York Pre-Auction Analysis focuses on elements that are hidden from the unprofessional eye. We will describe the important visual elements for those who cannot attend the preview and discuss characteristics such as: Undertone, Color Dispersion, and Inner-Grade (UDI; a detailed explanation appears at the bottom of this article). We analyze and grade Fancy Color Diamonds relative to their GIA grade.

We use grades 1, 2, 3, and 4, 1 being the lowest grade. Grade “+” is granted in rare cases and stands for stones with an exceptional characteristic. Stones that receive a minimum total UDI score of 8, without a red remark, pass the industry threshold and can be traded easily. Fancy Color Diamonds that are graded 10 or above, (without a quality remark) are usually sought after by high-end jewelry brands, collectors and the investment community.

For your convenience, we have added direct links for the GIA reports.

• All images in this article review were taken with an iPhone 12 pro, no filters were applied.
• All auction valuations are per carat and in US Dollars.

Lot #68

204.36 carats, Fancy Intense Yellow, Cushion, VVS2 

High catalog estimation: $26,913 per carat

Price realized: $24,221 pc

An extremely large Fancy intense yellow cushion cut diamond. Looking at the way in which  it was cut and polished, we can assume