Bonhams Hong Kong sale leads with 50-carat Colombian emerald necklace

A 50-carat Colombian emerald necklace is the kind of jewel that stops a room, but its real power lies in the details Bonhams is putting front and center: seven step-cut stones from circa 1950, more than 30 carats of vari-cut diamonds, and the language of origin and treatment that makes emeralds legible to serious buyers. For May birthstone shoppers, that is the difference between a pretty green jewel and a stone with pedigree.

Bonhams’ Exceptional Jewels and Jadeite sale is set for May 24, 2026, in Hong Kong at Six Pacific Place, with bidding beginning at 14:00 HKT. The 148-lot auction will span rubies, Kashmir sapphires, emeralds, diamonds and colored diamonds, and Katy Lai, Bonhams’ head of sale and specialist of jewellery, called it “a vibrant celebration of colour,” adding that it offers collectors a chance to acquire “truly unique and distinguished jewels.”

At the top of the sale is an important emerald and diamond necklace, circa 1950, set with seven Colombian emeralds totaling 50.00 carats. Bonhams has estimated it at HK$4.8 million to HK$5.5 million, about US$613,000 to US$702,000. The estimate is not just about size. It reflects the cachet of Colombian origin, the elegance of step-cut stones, and the enduring appetite for emeralds that hold color across large matched stones.

That same vocabulary appears in the sale’s other highlights. Bonhams is offering a pair of unmounted Colombian emeralds weighing 31.20 and 30.12 carats, a 5.84-carat no-oil Colombian emerald ring, a 16.50-carat Tanzanian red spinel and diamond ring, a 5.31-carat cushion-shaped Kashmir sapphire ring, and a 4.10-carat fancy vivid yellow diamond with VS1 clarity. For buyers who usually see emeralds in smaller rings and pendants, the unmounted stones are a reminder that serious emerald collecting often starts with provenance, not setting.

That is why “no-oil” matters so much. Emerald treatment is common, and Bonhams has long treated untreated stones as a special market tier precisely because so many emeralds are fissure-filled or enhanced. In a market shaped by 16th-century New World discoveries and by recent record results, the words Colombian, no-oil and unmounted do as much work as carat weight. For emerald buyers, they are the first signs that a green stone may have the kind of rarity usually reserved for auction rooms.