A jadeite bead necklace with a Cartier clasp has sold at a Sotheby’s auction for more than HK$214 million (AU$29.4 m), breaking world records for any jadeite and Cartier jewellery sold at auction.
The Hutton-Mdivani necklace was estimated to sell for more than HK$100 million (AU$13.7 m) at the Sotheby’s Hong Kong Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite spring sale. This was less than half the value, however, of what the Cartier Collection acquired it for, following a reported 20 minutes of fierce bidding.
The necklace is composed of 27 translucent jadeite beads with a Cartier clasp set with calibré-cut rubies and baguette diamonds, mounted in platinum and 18-carat yellow gold. Socialite and Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton, who was married to Russian prince Alexis Mdivani, was the original owner of the piece before giving it to Louise Van Allen, who also married into the Mdivani royal family.
At the same auction, the world record for a ruby sold at auction was also reportedly broken with the sale of a 29.62-carat oval ruby ring set with 2.5 carats of brilliant-cut diamonds and mounted in platinum by Cartier. The ring is said to have sold for HK$57.2 million (AU$7.9 m).
In other record-breaking news, the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Lujan Neutron Scattering Center in New Mexico confirmed that a 217.8 gram piece of gold was the world’s largest single-crystal specimen.
The specimen was one of four that were discovered decades ago in Venezuela and provided to geologist and Miami University professor John Rakovan by the US-based owner for assessment. Three of the four were found to be single-crystal – rare compared with the common multiple-crystal formation.
The largest is estimated to have a value of US$1.5 million (AU$1.6 m), with Rakovan saying that the “structure or atomic arrangement of gold crystals of this size has never been studied before”.
Further interpretation of the laboratory’s findings is currently underway to develop an understanding of how the rare pieces were formed.