Boasting nearly 570 lots spread across two sessions, the auction features extraordinary highlights ranging from unheated Kashmir and Ceylon sapphires, Burma rubies and Colombian emeralds to signature designs by the likes of Cartier, Bvlgari, Van Cleef & Arpels and Tiffany & Co.
Among the standout lots is a rainbow’s worth of non-treated coloured gemstones. While most of the coloured gemstones on the market today have undergone heat treatment to enhance their clarity and/or colour, these gems exhibit natural, untouched beauty. “This is likely the highest number of important coloured non-treated gemstones we’ve ever offered,” says Jill Burgum, Heritage’s Executive Director of Fine Jewellery. “They are extremely rare, as their colour is natural.”
Some of the top draws include eight lots featuring unheated Burma rubies, such as the Ruser ring with a richly coloured 9.87-carat oval-shaped ruby as its sparkling center piece (pictured). Encircling the center stone is a double halo of diamonds weighing a total of approximately 5.45 carats and resembling the layered petals of a stylized floral motif. William Ruser, known as “Jeweller to the Stars” in the 1950s and ’60s, and his Beverly Hills salon once courted the top celebrities of the day, including Loretta Young, Joan Crawford and Claudette Colbert. Other designer creations starring unheated Burma rubies include a Nini bracelet featuring seven heart-shaped rubies and a Van Cleef & Arpels ring featuring a 10.89-carat star ruby cabochon.
Unheated Burma rubies can also be found in a platinum ring featuring a 3.90-carat cushion-shaped ruby, an 18k gold ring with a 2.39-carat cushion-shaped ruby and a pair of earrings featuring a total of 4.06 carats of oval-shaped rubies. There are also two unmounted and non-treated Burma rubies – one weighing 3.54 carats and another weighing 2.46 carats. The auction also includes a gorgeous platinum ring featuring a non-treated octagonal-shaped Colombian emerald weighing 2.50 carats and a wonderful selection of unheated Kashmir and Burma sapphires. From Burma comes the dazzling 8.88-carat oval-shaped sapphire at the center of this platinum ring and the vivid 5.51-carat pink sapphire in this ring. The auction’s unheated Kashmir sapphires include a 2.35-carat unmounted stone and the 1.40-carat cushion-shaped stone at the center of this striking platinum ring.
Several of the auction’s other colored gemstones feature only minor treatment, including a Van Cleef & Arpels bracelet with approximately 8.60 carats of Colombian emeralds, a pair of earrings featuring 3.05 carats of pear-shaped Colombian emeralds and a spectacular 3.15-carat unmounted Paraiba tourmaline. Revered for their neon brilliance and scarcity, Brazilian Paraiba tourmalines remain among the most sought-after coloured gemstones in the world.
The auction also features a bevy of top-notch designer pieces, from the conservative to the wildly artistic and innovative. Among the standouts is a regal offering from Tiffany & Co.’s 2012 Legacy Gemstone Collection. Conceived in celebration of the house’s 175th anniversary, the platinum ring is centered by a majestic 18.99-carat Ceylon sapphire (pictured). The stone’s setting is equally eye-catching: Stylized vase motifs, crafted in platinum and filled with full-cut diamond blossoms, embellish the shoulders and gallery with graceful intricacy. Meanwhile, from Cartier comes a diamond-encrusted ring dotted with emeralds and sapphires. The Panthère de Cartier ring is crafted in 18k white gold and features the sculpted form of Cartier’s iconic panther motif, with a cleverly engineered head that can be partially rotated.
Other designer highlights include a Bvlgari ring featuring blue, pink and yellow sapphires; an 18k gold David Webb brooch in the form of a dragon coiled around a faceted crystal; a Chopard eternity band centered by a 4.03-carat pear-shaped diamond; a sculptural Jean Mahie bracelet hand-crafted in 22k gold; and a modernist circa-1970 Burle Marx gold necklace adorned with finely carved aquamarines.
The auction also features jewels that once belonged to a trio of silver-screen stars from Hollywood’s Golden Age. Among the lots is a statement-making 18k gold cuff bracelet featuring a cushion-shaped sapphire weighing approximately 48.00 carats. The bracelet was formerly owned by Irene Dunne, the beloved actress known for her roles in The Awful Truth, Love Affair and I Remember Mama. Another bracelet – this one a Bvlgari creation featuring star sapphire and star ruby cabochons – once belonged to Shirley Temple Black, and this glamorous limited-edition Boucheron & Girard-Perregaux 150th anniversary watch Diamond, Platinum Ring... was previously owned by Elizabeth Taylor.
Several prominent estates are also represented in the September auction, including one whose proceeds will be donated to a historic church in New York City. The sale of Carina Quintian’s treasured jewelry collection – and her watch collection in a later Heritage auction – will benefit the St. Vincent Ferrer Church Restoration Fund, which was established to help preserve the Gothic Revival architecture of the 1918-built church. Highlights from Quintian’s collection include beautiful works by Mauboussin, Verdura, Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels and David Webb.
Another special estate makes up the fall auction’s entire second session. Being presented this September is part one, with a second part to come in a later online auction. Leading the session is a dazzling 12.55-carat diamond ring with a marquise-shaped center stone flanked by tapered baguette-cut diamonds (pictured). Other standouts include an exquisite necklace showcasing nine vibrant Burma rubies, each framed by a halo of diamonds, and a striking pair of Graff earrings adorned with a mix of yellow diamonds and near-colorless diamonds.
“This sale is incredibly exciting,” Burgum says of the fall auction. “There is so much beauty to see and behold. The craftsmanship and variety are mind-blowing.”