Archduke Joseph Diamond fetches record $21.5M Associated Press Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Updated 2:41 p.m., Tuesday, November 13, 2012 GENEVA (AP) — Geneva's jewelry auctions, held in five-star hotels along its elegant lakefront, can seem a continent if not a world away from the grim austerity gripping much of Europe. Two out-of-this-world diamonds are being auctioned off this week, joining a long list of other fabulous jewels, watches and other luxury goods sold in Geneva. On Tuesday night, Christie's auctioned off the Archduke Joseph Diamond for $21,474,525 including commission, a world auction record price per carat for a colorless diamond. Named for Archduke Joseph August of Austria, the great-grandson of both a Holy Roman emperor and a French king, the diamond passed to his son, Archduke Joseph Francis, who put it in a bank vault, then to an anonymous buyer who kept it in a safe during World War II. Beneath a row of three enormous chandeliers that cast panther-like shadows on the ceiling, the participants eagerly pounced at the jewels while competing with bidders from around the world calling in to Christie's employees seated in rows on both sides of the room. [...] perhaps the buyers weren't entirely immune to the harsh financial climate in Europe — or at least some Geneva version of it. A yellow diamond with 70.19 carats failed to sell because the final bid was 2.8 million Swiss francs, just slightly below the reserve price.
Archduke Joseph Diamond Fetches Record $21.5m
World News From SFGate, San Francisco Chronicle: World
Tue, 11/13/2012 - 3:53pm
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