Type IIa D IF 4.07-carat Marquise Diamond

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.

Rolex Daytona Ref. 6241 in 14K Gold (Lot 1047, December Jewels & Watches)

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. 

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The Allure of Type IIa Diamonds

Since the advent of diamond mining, diamonds have been prized for their clarity, transparency and purity. In fact, the finest diamonds were historically referred to as “gems of the first water”—such that the purest diamonds mimicked the color of the clearest drop of water. This age-old comparison was even noted as early as 1607, in Shakespeare’s Pericles:

Heavenly jewels which Pericles hath lost,

Begin to part their fringes of bright gold.

The diamonds of a most praisèd water

Doth appear, to make the world twice rich.

Shakespeare, Pericles (Act III, Scene 2)

Nowadays, diamonds are graded on internationally recognized scales for both clarity and color. The majority of diamonds possess varying levels of nitrogen in their chemical composition, which give them a slight yellow tinge. Colorless diamonds that possess very low levels of nitrogen are exceptionally rare and command extremely high prices at market—with prices per carat consistently increasing over time.

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