Issue link: https://www.balharbourdigital.com/i/175740
ROCK SOLID Like blue-chip art, the value of fine jewelry continues to rise. BY WILLIAM KISSEL Laurence Graff broke the record for a single diamond purchase in 2010 with this 24.78-carat pink diamond for $46 million, now known as the Graff Pink. This past spring a rare 34.65-carat pink diamond went on the auction block at Christie's in New York and quickly sold for an astonishing $39.3 million. Known as the Princie Diamond, the stone was discovered more than three centuries ago in the Golconda mines of India and named in honor of Sayajirao Gaekwad, the late Prince of Baroda, who was in attendance at the Paris store of Van Cleef & Arpels when the stone was first purchased in 1960. Surprising as that may be, it is not the record price for a single diamond. That honor goes to London jeweler Laurence Graff, whose $46 million purchase in 2010 of a 24.78-carat pink diamond known as the Graff Pink–once the centerpiece of Harry Winston's collection–has yet to be matched. Treasured for centuries by royalty and nobility, the famous and the notorious, such gems and the high jewelry made from them were traditionally bought or commissioned for love, and sometimes status, seldom for monetary security. But as rare stones, vintage designs with hallmark signatures and statement pieces from the past and present reach prices higher than some blue-chip paintings, these days more and more buyers are beginning to 48 BAL HARBOUR recognize the investment potential of fine jewelry as well. "Today clients are realizing that not only do these pieces retain their value, but many also increase tremendously," says Henri Barguirdjian, president and CEO of Graff America. "That has triggered a different kind of clients who not only buy for beauty and to please their wives but also as a safe haven for their money." In the U.S. alone last year jewelry sales topped more than $71 billion, with auction houses like Sotheby's that typically dabble in more obvious collectibles such as fine art and real estate selling more than $460 million just in jewelry, a 57 percent increase over the company's peak in 2007. Naturally, some pieces are more collectible than others. At Harry Winston, for instance, this past spring the Swatch-owned brand paid a record $26.7 million for a 101-carat flawless diamond at a Christie's auction in Geneva. In that case the value was purely in the quality of the stone. However, colored gems and statement pieces from the past and present often garner equal attention, and record prices, at Winston as well as jewelers such as Bulgari, Graff, Tiffany & Co. and Van Cleef & Arpels due to their signature and high quality design.