REVIEW: JEWELLERY 14 MARCH

Sparkling prices greeted the top lots in Noonans’ 14 March Jewellery, Watches and Objects of Vertu auction, led by an £80,000 hammer price – double the lower estimate – achieved for a stunning 10.13 carat diamond single stone ring, set with a Fancy Light yellow brilliant.

Coloured gemstone rings in the sale far exceeded expectations, with a late 19th century five stone untreated Burmese ruby ring selling for £36,000 hammer, after fierce competition on the telephones secured the lot at nearly 10 times estimate.

A Faint Pink diamond pendant set with an old-cut pear-shaped diamond fetched £22,000 – seven times its pre-sale lower estimate, and a particularly stylish Art Deco diamond bracelet, circa 1930, sold for £17,000 against an estimate of £6,000-£8,000.

A Sri Lankan sapphire ring, set with an untreated sapphire of 14.80 carats, doubled its pre-sale estimate of £6,000-8,000, selling for £13,000 and an untreated jadeite jade bead necklace, composed of 77 graduating beads, achieved £10,000.

The sale included a fine selection of early rings, including a 17th century seal ring, discovered 15 years ago by 71 year-old Richard McCaie, a retired schoolteacher, when he was landscaping the garden of his Grade II listed 16th century farmhouse at Braunton in Devon. While planting a Ceanothus bush at a depth of 10 inches, he discovered the gold ring by chance, which subsequently sold at Noonans for £12,000 to a UK collector. The ring dated from circa 1620 and very likely belonged to Humphrey Cockeram of Cullompton in Devon.

Among the Objects of Vertu was a fine gold fob seal, circa 1820, engraved with the arms of Rowland Hill, 1st Viscount Hill of Hawkestone and of Hardwicke (Shropshire), whose distinguished military career in the Napoleonic Wars led him to being appointed second in command to the Duke of Wellington, on whose retirement Lord Hill replaced as General Commander of the British Forces. It was expected to fetch £600-£800, but intense bidding took it to £10,000 hammer, and it sold to a private purchaser who plans to gift the seal to the Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery.

98% of the Watch section sold, with most lots exceeding their pre-sale estimates. The Art Deco styled Patek Philippe Gondolo watch, circa1995, sold for a hammer price of £6,000 and the classic Reverso Night & Day dual time wristwatch by Jaeger-LeCoultre, circa 2000, also achieved £6,000.

“The extraordinary prices we are achieving show the increasingly strong demand for antique and fine gemstone jewellery and watches at auction, an upward market trend which shows no signs of diminishing,” said Frances Noble, Associate Director, and Head of Jewellery at Noonans.