Bonhams Hong Kong sale features 30-carat diamond necklace and rare gems

Diamonds may not headline Bonhams Hong Kong’s Exceptional Jewels & Jadeite sale, but they are doing the quiet commercial work. In a 148-lot auction set for 24 May 2026 at 14:00 HKT at Six Pacific Place, the strongest diamond content appears to function less as the main attraction than as the framework that makes colored gems sing, and the market is still clearly rewarding that formula.

The lead lot is a circa-1950 emerald-and-diamond necklace built around seven step-cut Colombian emeralds totaling 50.00 carats. Bonhams says the piece is accented by more than 30 carats of vari-cut diamonds, a detail that matters as much to its value as to its silhouette. The estimate of HK$4,800,000 to HK$5,500,000 reflects that balance: the emeralds supply the color and rarity, while the diamonds provide the shimmer, rhythm and visual lift that turn a gem suite into a finished jewel. Katy Lai, Bonhams’ head of sale and specialist of jewellery, called the auction a “vibrant celebration of colour” and said the necklace exemplifies “timeless elegance” and “exceptional craftsmanship.”

Other lots sharpen the point. A 16.50-carat red spinel and diamond ring, described by Bonhams as Tanzanian, is expected to bring HK$1,800,000 to HK$2,400,000. A 5.31-carat Kashmir-origin sapphire ring carries an estimate of HK$1,350,000 to HK$2,000,000. Bonhams also lists a pair of unmounted step-cut Colombian emeralds weighing 31.20 and 30.12 carats, a 5.84-carat no-oil Colombian emerald and diamond ring, and an unmounted 4.10-carat fancy vivid yellow diamond, natural with VS1 clarity, estimated at HK$900,000 to HK$1,600,000. Taken together, the sale suggests that diamonds are still the market’s most legible value language, whether they are acting as accents, anchors or pure, unmounted statements.

That reading is reinforced by Bonhams’ recent Hong Kong results. In its 22 May 2025 Jewels and Jadeite sale, a 1.08-carat fancy vivid pink diamond ring led the auction, while other notable results included a Kat Florence paraiba-type tourmaline and a fancy vivid yellow diamond and diamond ring that sold for HK$2,290,000 including premium. Hong Kong collectors have been signaling that rare color still pulls, but diamonds remain the benchmark against which those colors are measured. In this sale, they are not background noise; they are the structure holding the market’s most arresting stones together.