Christie’s held popular Jewels: The New York Sale & The Annenberg Diamond Rare Jewels and Objets d’Art: A Superb Collection in New York, on 21, October, 2009. The auction amounted to a total sale of $46,513,050. One of its remarkable sales that day was the Annenberg Diamond, a rectangular-cut diamond of 32.01 cts, D Flawless mounted as a ring by David Webb. The diamond achieved a world record for a colourless diamond selling at $240,000 per ct. It sold for $7,698,500, or $240,578 per carat.

Rahul Kadakia, Head of Jewelry at Christie’s New York, comments: “For three and a half hours, between 10am and 1:30pm on October 21 at Christie’s, it was as if the recession never happened. Virtually every lot exceeded its estimate and the $7.7 million Annenberg diamond astonished even the most seasoned diamond dealer. It was an auction to remember. And if this were not enough, the sale started again at 2:30pm and continued until 7pm, giving collectors opportunity to acquire exceptional masterpieces from the superb collection of Rare Jewels and Objets d’Art.” The previous record was held by a 16-carat colourless diamond, which sold for $208,000 at Christie’s Hong Kong sale in May of 2008.

Also, there were four lots which topped the $1 million mark. These included a 16.33-carat, E internally flawless, round diamond, bought for around $1,583,300, or $97,000 per carat; a pair of ear pendants created with a 7.18-carat, pear-shaped fancy blue and an 8.04-carat, pear-shaped fancy light pink sold for $1,426,500; a pair of earrings embedded with D internally flawless, pear-shaped diamonds of 7.51 and 8.18 carats, sold for $1,202,500 and a belle epoque diamond and rock crystal bow brooch, by Cartier, was bought for $1,082,500.

Other lots that sold included The Taj Mahal Emerald of 141.13 carats which was bought for $794,500, a rectangular-cut diamond ring of 21.42 cts, G color, VS2 clarity by Tiffany and Co. sold for $770,500, a pair of modified square-cut fancy yellow diamond ear pendants of 18.07 and 16.01 cts, VS1 clarity sold for $818,500, a cut-cornered square-cut fancy gray-blue diamond ring of 6.96 cts sold for $866,500 and an emerald and diamond necklace by Harry Winston sold for $950,500.

The auction saw the sale of 327 lots of the total 385 lots offered.