26.27ct antique cushion bought for GBP10 to be auctioned at Sotheby's

[SimoneDi]

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/08/luxury/car-boot-sale-diamond-ring-sells-for-847k/index.html

"The new owner is likely to re-cut it into a modern diamond that will emit even more sparkle and potentially be worth a multiple of today's price," he said in a press release

This is so sad I wish it were illegal. How could someone destroy an antique like that? I wonder if they're also buying furniture from Buckingham Palace for firewood.

I also wonder about the economics of this. Will it really be worth more as a modern cut? While I understand all diamonds in this size range are incredibly rare, I imagine it's one of a kind in it's original antique form.

Oh nooooooooo...why destroy such an awesome antique stone I would understand having a little "rehab" in order to improve performance, but I think that it will lose quite a bit of its carat weight when recut to a RB

 

[ac117]

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/08/luxury/car-boot-sale-diamond-ring-sells-for-847k/index.html

"The new owner is likely to re-cut it into a modern diamond that will emit even more sparkle and potentially be worth a multiple of today's price," he said in a press release

This is so sad I wish it were illegal. How could someone destroy an antique like that? I wonder if they're also buying furniture from Buckingham Palace for firewood.

I also wonder about the economics of this. Will it really be worth more as a modern cut? While I understand all diamonds in this size range are incredibly rare, I imagine it's one of a kind in it's original antique form.

Ughhhh this is devastating

 

[totallyfree]

Recutting is such a shame.... I actually really like the facets of the diamond as is, although acknowledge that light performance could be terrible. Maybe that contributed to the "costume jewellery" mistake, having terrible performance?

In any case, it gives the rest of us hope that we might grab a $10 bargain at some point in our lives

 

[kenny]

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/08/luxury/car-boot-sale-diamond-ring-sells-for-847k/index.html

"The new owner is likely to re-cut it into a modern diamond that will emit even more sparkle and potentially be worth a multiple of today's price," he said in a press release

This is so sad I wish it were illegal. How could someone destroy an antique like that? I wonder if they're also buying furniture from Buckingham Palace for firewood.

I also wonder about the economics of this. Will it really be worth more as a modern cut? While I understand all diamonds in this size range are incredibly rare, I imagine it's one of a kind in it's original antique form.

You only get to decide on what happens to it if you buy it.

The buyer could upload a Youtube video of him/her smashing it with a sledge hammer.
(S)He owns it.

Personally, if I bought it I'd be 50 50 on the recut.
I recognize the upside and downside of both decisions.

I guess I'd have to flip a coin.

 

[OFY]

You only get to decide on what happens to it if you buy it.

The buyer could upload a Youtube video of him/her smashing it with a sledge hammer.
(S)He owns it.

Personally, if I bought it I'd be 50 50 on the recut.
I recognize the upside and downside of both decisions.

I guess I'd have to flip a coin.

You're right, I don't own it, quit rubbing it in!

I still think it's crazy to buy a priceless antique (jewelry or anything else) only to modify it and modernize it. It seems like destroying a piece of history, even if we don't know exactly what that history is.... I know rough diamonds large enough to produce a 20+ct finished product aren't exactly mined everyday, but I wish the buyer wouldn't ruin museum worthy piece just to get a modern cut.

 

[MissElizabeth]

Luckily the quote re: recut is from a third-party jeweler and not the purchaser/new owner. Perhaps this isn't the new owner's intent at all! Just speculation from one perspective.

Personally, I'm fingers crossed that they love it as is and realize it speaks its valuable history more strongly as a chunky old gal.

 

[WinkHPD]

I too am sad to see such a beautiful gem recut to a modern cut. I have always loved the old cuts for their huge flashes of both white and colored light.

What a fun story for the long time owners!

Wink

 

[Matthews1127]

This is a picture of the gigantic 26.27ct OMC diamond, I, VVS2 (GIA):

*love*

 

[Matthews1127]

You're right, I don't own it, quit rubbing it in!

I still think it's crazy to buy a priceless antique (jewelry or anything else) only to modify it and modernize it. It seems like destroying a piece of history, even if we don't know exactly what that history is.... I know rough diamonds large enough to produce a 20+ct finished product aren't exactly mined everyday, but I wish the buyer wouldn't ruin museum worthy piece just to get a modern cut.

I agree. It sold for over $800K. Seriously, if you have $800K loose cash to spend on an antique diamond that you think would perform better, recut, then you have $800K to push the envelope & have one cut to suit you, without destroying an antique stone to accomplish what it is you are seeking/creating. I'm quite certain ANY living, breathing vendor would bend over backwards for someone with $800K to burn on a diamond!!! As rare as 20+ carat diamonds may be, they DO exist...esp at the right price!
I hope this individual doesn't decide to destroy this diamond and erase everything that is beautiful about it.

 

[ChristineRose]

Those comments came from Sotheby's, They also predicted it would sell for only $456,000 because it's an antique cut.

This person doesn't know what they are talking about. There are no 26 ct RB sold for so little. Precision cut antique cushions are more expensive than superideals! In fact if they did recut it to a 13 ct (?) RB it would be worth only a fraction of what was paid for it. This stone is very well cut, it's low color and high clarity, and it's a genuine antique. There is NO comparable stone on the planet right now. Most of the antique cushions left are yellowish and included.

I am pretty disappointed in Sotheby's. They should know more about it than I do. I sure don't know as much as the dealers who post on PS.

BTW, there's only five comparable RB on the search tool, and three of them are the same diamond. All of them can be had for less than $848,000.

 

[acaw2015]

I cant help but wonder... Someone sold their 26 ct stone in a car boot sale. Is that even a credible story? A stone of that size, it blows my mind how someone accidentaly sold it like that. Makes me think something isnt right with this story. Even assuming the person who bought it is right - who sold it to them?
Lovely stone though!

 

[ChristineRose]

I'm surprised they haven't traced it to someone in the 19th century. They may never know how it ended up in a car boot, but it seems like they'd be able to find a last know owner and some details like it having been stolen.

 

[kenny]

Assuming the 10 pound boot sale story is even true ...
The ten pound seller didn't know it was real.
After being cut long ago the first owner certainly DID know it was real.

So the provenance question is, how did it pass from an aware owner to a clueless owner?.

Could have been stolen, but even then the thief knew it was real so the question remains.
Perhaps it was stolen but the thief died before selling it.
The family/heirs of the thief, knowing nothing of the crime but knowing the thief was not wealthy, assumed it was fake.
The boot seller may be the thief's heir, or a descendant.

Perhaps at some point a rich old person with advanced mental decline sold it for a pittance so the buyer assumed it was fake.

Perhaps it was just lost on a beach and the finder, because of the size, assumed it was fake.

Fun to speculate, but I doubt we'll ever learn the truth.
People this rich can be pretty discrete about their baubles; research may turn up nothing.

 

[acaw2015]

Kenny, true. My first thought was all the lost/stolen jewelry/art in ww2. Makes me chilly to think about. But as you say, we will never know.

 

[EvaEvans]

. Makes me think something isnt right with this story. Even assuming the person who bought it is right - who sold it to them?

It was car boot sale at the Hospital ground at the 80s. in London, England. Rich country, rich city, 25 years after the WWII... I assume that some jewelry lost its direct inheritance during the WWII, some jewelry were acquired in not so legal or moral way during the war. So, my fantasy story is, that the person that owned this ring 25 years after the WWII never told anyone that this is a diamond, this person died at the Hospital, so lately some unwanted junk stuff was sold at the car boot sale...
Who knows...
But I have other thoughts too. I really doubt that for 30 years the last owner who purchased this ring NEVER suspected that this is a diamond. In my opinion - no way! I am thinking, that this person just waited enough long to get to the point of resale...30 years later, enough long time the traces of the car boot sale to fade in the mist of the time...

 

[kenny]

Good point about WWII ... especially being in England and all.

If the owner was killed in the Holocaust his/her descendants, if any, have a claim.
I hope/suspect Jewish groups have looked into this suspicious sale, or are looking into it.
I also suspect/hope Sotheby's looked into this.
The past cannot be changed, but if this was Nazi loot the proceeds of this auction could do a lot of good.

 

[OoohShiny]

Don't forget that it took a long time to rebuild London (and the UK economy) after the war - the cost of going to war nearly bankrupted the country IIRC, and the damage in London from the Blitz was substantial. Some sites may still not have been rebuilt:

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/...-coloured-bomb-damage-maps-london-in-pictures

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...d-London-blitz-Nazi-bombers-World-War-II.html

https://www.urban75.net/forums/threads/how-long-did-it-take-to-rebuild-london-after-ww2.80524/page-2

While some in London always have been very well off, the majority of people are just living day-to-day jobs like you and I, earning more but paying more out due to high prices of goods and services and rent/mortgages. Some areas have many residents that are struggling at the bottom of the socio-economic scale, living in Social Housing!

We may never know the true provenance of the stone, which like all mysteries, adds to the intrigue and interest in it

 

[Matthews1127]

We also must keep in mind that this stone may pre-date WWII. This stone could very well have belonged to someone with no living relatives & gotten circulated to God knows where until it ended up in a car boot.
The origin of the stone would be helpful, but it truly is an intriguing mystery.
I do hope whoever the proprietor of the stone is does not destroy it in a way that completely compromises its integrity or value. Quite frankly, a stone like this belongs in a glass case, in a museum.

 

[acaw2015]

I seriously doubt that a 26 ct stone could disappear like that. Things of such a huge value seldom do, people tend to keep track of them, even if they belong to a distant relative. Although it is more common with large diamonds in the US than in the UK I can hardly believe that 26 ct stones are being tossed around in the US either.

 

[Lisa Loves Shiny]

I hope the new owner placed their bid knowing exactly the value of this old cut as an old cut. There are so many of us on PS who have a cult like devotion to old cut diamonds because of their unique beauty.