Phillips New York Jewels tops $4.1 million as emerald necklace leads sale
Phillips’ New York Jewels cleared more than $4.1 million, with 95% of lots sold. A Colombian emerald necklace led, while a $650,000 paraiba ring stayed unsold.
Rare colored stones and signed names still drew firm bidding in New York, but the strongest signal from Phillips’ New York Jewels sale was discipline, not exuberance. The 113-lot auction totaled more than $4.1 million, with 95% of lots sold and 82% of sold lots landing within or above estimate, a result that points to selective confidence in pieces that had the right rarity, maker and price.
The top lot was a platinum necklace set with 20 graduated step-cut Colombian emeralds, separated by rows of brilliant-cut diamonds, which sold for $541,800. Phillips had placed an $800,000 high estimate on the piece, so the result was robust without chasing the ceiling. That gap matters: bidders were willing to pay for exceptional material, but not to erase every trace of caution.
The same pattern showed up elsewhere in the sale. The second- through fifth-highest results included a 14.71-carat fancy-intense-yellow diamond ring at $258,000, a necklace centered on a 5.86-carat Brazilian Paraiba tourmaline at $167,700, a 7.30-carat F-color VS1 diamond ring at $154,800 and an 8.08-carat Colombian emerald ring at $154,800. Four of the five paraiba tourmalines offered found buyers, a useful read on where appetite remains strongest: vivid color, but with provenance and size that feel attainable rather than speculative.
The one major miss was the sale’s projected top lot, a platinum and 18-karat yellow gold ring centered on a 31.77-carat oval Mozambique paraiba tourmaline, accented by marquise-cut diamonds, circular-cut blue tourmalines and brilliant-cut diamonds. Estimated at $550,000 to $650,000, it went unsold, underscoring how even rare stones can meet resistance when the valuation gets too aggressive. Paraiba tourmaline, first discovered in Brazil’s Paraíba state in 1989, owes its electric blue-to-green color to copper; because the original Brazilian deposits were largely depleted by the mid-1990s, stones from Mozambique, Nigeria and Ethiopia now carry much of the market.
Signed jewels performed with particular strength. Phillips said pieces by Harry Winston, Cartier, JAR and other prestigious houses sold at a 100% rate by lot and doubled their combined pre-sale estimate. Single-owner material also held up: 40 of 41 lots from the Tina Hills collection sold, and all 13 lots from the Irma Nicolas collection found buyers. Phillips’ jewelry leadership, Dianne Batista and Cristina Rodrigo, pointed to that consistency as evidence of the house’s reach with private collections, and the numbers backed them up.
The preview exhibition, shown June 8 through 11 at Phillips’ galleries at 432 Park Ave. in Manhattan, set the stage for a sale that rewarded quality, but only at prices the market was willing to absorb.
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