Christie's recently held its auction, namely ‘Jewels: The Geneva Sale’. The sale generated $22.5 million, and this indicated a dip in the level of prices by 20-30 percent over the price levels achieved last spring. Despite this, the sale created a new world record price for a sapphire at an auction, a 42.28-carat Kashmir sapphire , which was the top lot, sold for $3.49 million or $82,500 per carat.

The sale included a Van Cleef and Arpels ring created with a 22.9-carat rectangular-cut, D-color, potentially internally flawless diamond, which was bought by a private buyer for $2.04 million. A 63.22-carat rectangular-cut fancy intense yellow diamond ring was bought for $1.3 million. A Bulgari natural-pearl and diamond necklace featured amongst the top 10 lots and was bought by Indian trade for $522,500.

Christie's noted a healthy attitude towards bidding although there is a market slowdown. Natural pearls and vintage jewellery saw a good asking by international buyers amongst whom there was a large number of Indian, Russian, Middle Eastern and continental European buyers."