CHICAGO, IL.- Leslie Hindman Auctioneers’ September 8-9 auction of Fine Jewelry and Timepieces brought a total of $3.89 million. The highly successful sale included highlights of natural pearls, colored stones, diamonds and vintage signed pieces.

The most sought after jewels in the sale, including the natural pearl necklace and the Kashmir sapphire, attracted enthusiastic bidding from an international audience eager to add rare pieces to their own collections. These items all drew extensive online, phone and in-person bidding which had to contend with numerous presale order bids that drove opening prices to extremes in many cases.

First of these is an important graduated single strand, natural saltwater pearl necklace from the McIntosh estate. The necklace is composed of 74 finely matched cream colored pearls of fine luster. In the 1930’s the McIntosh family worked with a natural pearl dealer in Chicago to create the exceptional strand. The necklace was so finely matched in color and graduation it took several painstaking years to complete and had remained in the family since the original purchase. A strand of this quality and subtle graduation whose center pearl measures over 10.00 mm in diameter is extremely scarce amidst the already rarified world of natural pearls. The necklace well exceeded its estimate range of $30,000-50,000 to achieve $218,500.

Several other lots in the sale also outperformed pre-sale estimates, including a vintage platinum Kashmir sapphire and diamond “Bee’ ring by Jean Schlumberger for Tiffany & Co., estimated at $40,000-60,000, which sold for $134,500 and a platinum and 8.23 carat emerald cut diamond ring which sold for $104,500 against an estimate of $80,000-100,000.

Other highlights include a 1.50 carat fancy deep pink diamond which brought $158,500, a 7.66 carat round brilliant cut diamond ring achieved $68,500, and a Cartier Art Deco platinum, diamond and moonstone bead bracelet realized $16,250.

SEPTEMBER JEWELRY APPRAISAL EVENTS:
Alexander Eblen, Director, Fine Jewelry and Timepieces, will be in our regional offices throughout the month of September to appraise and discuss potential consignments for the December Fine Jewelry and Timepieces Auctions in Chicago. Mr. Eblen will be in Denver on September 12th and 13th, Minneapolis on September 16th, Milwaukee September 17th and 18th, and our Naples and Palm Beach offices from September 30th through October 4th. To schedule an appointment, please call the offices directly. Phone numbers and addresses can be found at lesliehindman.com/offices/