Christie auction - Archduke Joseph Diamond sold for very high price

  

We often hear of this – being sold on ‘cost price’ which means no profits, no margins – without meandering into whether this is really done – for any product there is the element of cost – which could be its purchase price or the costs that went into its manufacture.  Any product that is on sale most likely will have elements of additional costs representing the handling / storing / administrative costs and profits added to the procurement value.   There are two elements – 1) the costs and the expenses determine the sale price 2) sale price is also determined the supply and demand equation.  

There is another concept of ‘utility’ – i.e., how badly it is required or how useful the product is…… that is a paradox.  Theoretically, the essentials like water, food, electricity etc., which we badly require can be priced high and people can perhaps not care and live without gold jewellery, ornaments, diamond and the like…. ‘which is costly’ does not require any intelligence.

Here is something on a high value diamond !  -  read my earlier post : http://www.sampspeak.in/2012/11/archduke-joseph-diamond-to-go-under.html.  It was about  auction of  a 76.02 carat cushion shaped diamond, of perfect D colour and Internally Flawless clarity said to possess a charm like no other diamond, called ‘Archduke Joseph Diamond’ through the reputed auction house  - Christie's, a fine arts auction house

In mineralogy, diamond  is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite;  Diamond is renowned as a material with superlative physical qualities, most of which originate from the strong covalent bonding between its atoms. In particular, diamond has the highest hardness and thermal conductivity of any bulk material. Diamond has remarkable optical characteristics and  relatively high optical dispersion (ability to disperse light of different colors), which results in its characteristic lustre.  

Diamonds are costly…… this huge  internally flawless diamond from India's fabled Golconda mines  has been sold at auction in Geneva and can you imagine its price ?   Don’t sway - On Tuesday [13^th Nov 12]  night it fetched  a record 20.35m Swiss francs (£13.5m), Christie's said.  The purchaser’s identity was not revealed and the auction house described as being bought by an anonymous bidder.  The seller was Black, Starr & Frost, an American jeweller founded in 1810 and based in California.

The price was well above the $15m (£9m) pre-sale estimate, and was far in excess of the $6.5m (£4m) it reached when it was last sold in 1993.  "It is a world record for a Golconda diamond and a world record price per carat for a colourless diamond," Francois Curiel, director of the international jewellery department at Christie's, told reporters.If you are to  understand the real value ii is : 20.355 million Swiss francs ($21.48 million) – in Indian Rupees Rs.118,29,00,000/- - 118  crores. !!!

Reports suggest that the  previous record was held by the "Beau Sancy", a pear-shaped diamond of 34.98 carats, sold by rival Sotheby's for 9 million Swiss francs last May.  Some experts state that - Diamonds and gemstones are a safe refuge for investors in difficult economic times- stating that at the time of crisis,  people don't trust governments and banks.

The diamond was the star lot at Christie's semi-annual jewellery sale in Geneva, which fetched 76.6 million francs, with 290 of 348 lots sold.  The sale  included a brooch with a Ceylon sapphire weighing 60.44 carats, surrounded by diamonds, that went for 1.7 million francs, more than three times its estimate.  The bidding for the Archduke Joseph diamond opened at 8 million Swiss francs but the price swiftly rose amid heated telephone bidding. The Archduke Joseph Diamond originating from Golconda mines is reported to be  comparable in its noble lineage and superb quality to the legendary Koh-i-Noor.  

Kohinoor, blue Hope Diamond, Archduke Joseph all diamonds reportedly originated from Golconda…. What does India have – none of them !!!  ~ we can only read about the auction and of its owners…....

With regards – S. Sampathkumar.

14^th Nov. 2012.