FORTUNA® Ends the Year Strong with Important Estate Diamonds

FORTUNA’s most-anticipated sale of the year, the December Jewels & Watches auction, came to an exciting close on Thursday, December 10, 2020 after nearly a full day of live bidding activity. December’s curated collection offered a wealth of iconic estate jewels, important gemstones, and rare vintage timepieces—giving holiday shoppers the perfect opportunity to surprise their loved ones with one-of-a-kind treasures. In total sales revenue, the December auction sold nearly $1.9 million in jewelry and watches, showing promising signs of the return of consumer confidence in luxury accessories. For full sale results, click here.

Only a year after setting global auction records for a 1991 limited edition Cartier Crash watch, FORTUNA has returned bringing yet another vintage watch rarity to market. Despite being one of the later consigned items of FORTUNA’s over 400-lot catalog, the impressive Rolex Daytona Ref. 6241 in 14K Gold got the bidding attention it deserved. Amassing one of the world’s largest followings in vintage sports watches, the Rolex Daytona is a tour de force of mechanical timepieces. Debuting in 1966, the Ref. 6241 is especially rare for its 14K gold case—only seeing about 3000 examples made in all metals. Opening at auction with a starting bid of $70,000, the price quickly climbed between multiple phone bidders. After a tense final exchange between two phone bidders, the classic timepiece eventually went for a hammer price of $135,000 and a final achieved price of $168,750. 

Other overachieving lots, unsurprisingly, were diamond jewels coming from a series of important estates. The jewelry portion of FORTUNA®’s December Jewels & Watches was led by a pair of important Fancy Yellow diamonds from an esteemed Florida collector. In addition to their heightened rarity, canary diamonds make the perfect accessories for winter—perfectly complementing the warm, twinkling lights of the holiday season. The highest achieving lot of the sale was an incredible 13.61-Carat Fancy Yellow Diamond Ring. The stone is extraordinarily clean and beautifully cut to create a mesmerizing brilliance and sparkle. Offered at a starting bid of $75,000, the ring went to an eager online bidder, achieving a final price of $175,000 at auction.

Coming from the same estate, a spectacular pair of Fancy Yellow Diamond Earrings, 14.62 CTW, also achieved impressive results—selling for $118,750 at auction. The dazzling cut-cornered square brilliant-cut Fancy Yellow diamonds are evenly saturated in color and well matched in size, weighing 7.29-carats and 7.33-carats each. The lovely canary yellow shade of the Fancy Colored diamonds and the elegant accents with white diamond clusters give these earrings a classic old-Hollywood glamor. Also in estate diamonds, a rare 4.07-carat Marquise-Cut Diamond Ring with a Type IIa classification achieved $125,000 at auction. Featuring a lovely D color and IF clarity, the center stone is a paramount example of the pure beauty of white diamonds.