32-carat
diamond sells for $7.7M at NYC auction By ULA
ILNYTZKY, Associated Press Writer Ula Ilnytzky, Associated
Press Writer – Wed Oct 21, 3:50 pm ET
NEW
YORK – A square, 32.01-carat emerald-cut diamond that billionaire
philanthropist Leonore Annenberg bought for her 90th birthday
sold for $7.7 million at auction on Wednesday.
About the size of a walnut, the flawless,
colorless diamond sits on a ring designed by Manhattan jeweler
David Webb. It is flanked by two pear-shaped diamonds, one
of them 1.61 carats and the other 1.51 carats.
The ring was offered for sale by Annenberg's
estate. Christie's auction house did not identify the buyer,
who bid by phone.
Annenberg died in March at the age of 91.
She served as U.S. chief of protocol during President Ronald
Reagan's first term — a position that carried the rank of
ambassador. Her husband, Walter Annenberg, a billionaire publisher
and ambassador to Britain under President Richard Nixon, died
in 2002.
The big diamond "combines the best of
the four C's: top color, perfect clarity, ideal cut and excellent
weight," said Francois Curiel, international head of
Christie's jewels.
With the "impeccable provenance of the
Annenberg name, you have one of the finest gems to appear
on the market for many years," he said.
Annenberg purchased the ring for herself to
mark her 90th birthday, Christie's said. It was delivered
by armed guards to her Rancho Mirage, Calif., home from the
Beverly Hills jeweler's store, it said. She was thrilled whenever
someone came by to admire it, the auction house said.
The ring's pre-sale estimate was $3 million
to $5 million. The previous auction record for a 30-carat
square cut flawless, colorless diamond was $3.1 million, set
at Christie's in Geneva in May.
The record for any diamond or jewel at auction
is $24.3 million for the 17th century cushion-shaped grayish-blue
35.56 carat Wittelsbach Diamond. It was sold at Christie's
in December 2008, topping the previous record of $16.5 million
for a 100-carat diamond sold in 1995 in Geneva.
In May, a rare 7.03-carat blue diamond sold
at Sotheby's for $9.5 million — the highest price ever for
a gem of its kind.
Walter and Leonore Annenberg donated $4.2
billion to cultural, educational and medical institutions
through the Annenberg Foundation. In 2002, their collection
of French Impressionist art was donated to the Metropolitan
Museum of Art in New York, where Leonore Annenberg was a member
of the acquisitions committee.
She was also a trustee of the Philadelphia
Museum of Art and served on the Trustee's Council of The National
Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Her husband established the Annenberg School
of Communications at the University of Pennsylvania and at
the University of Southern California.