Geneva - Certainly no stranger to luxury goods, Geneva will kick off the auction season on Sunday, with both Sotheby's and Christie's vowing to fight the recession and bring in millions for rare stones, watches, art and wine. Sotheby's might have the most expensive find of the Swiss lakeside's spring season with a 7.03 carat gem. Booked as "an important and rare fancy vivid blue diamond," it is to be the centerpiece of the auction house's "Magnificent Jewels" sale on Tuesday.
The diamond, which fits on a ring, could draw a depression- crushing 5.8 to 8.5 million dollars, according to estimates. The buyer, if there is one, will get to name the stone, mined last year at the Cullinan mine in South Africa.
Cathy Malins of Petra Diamonds said her company had only recently bought the mine from De Beers, unearthing the "exquisite blue" within the first six months of ownership.
"There isn't another one," said David Bennet, a chairman with Sotheby's jewelry division. Such a diamond, he said, only rarely shows up on the market.
The downturn, which has wrecked many industries, does not have him down, he says.
"People are still looking for the unique," Bennet said, adding "for rare things, the market is very good."
Nonetheless, during the height of the financial crisis last autumn, Sotheby's had been unable to sell a large blue diamond for which it set a minimum bid of 6.67 million dollars.
Over at Christie's, in Geneva's hilly and medieval Old City, a representative showed off three sparkling yellow diamond pieces, including a pendant which an estimate said could sell for 1.6 million Swiss francs (1.42 million dollars), earrings that might attract bids of 600,000 francs and a ring that, in terms of price, fell somewhere in the middle.
The auction house was also offering a simple but meticulously fashioned coloured pearl necklace by Cartier, sapphire and ruby brooches and a "flawless" 30.52 carat D colour diamond ring, along with a host of other pieces.
Several rare timepieces are set to go on the block at Christie's on Monday, including an oversized aviator's watch by Patek Philippe from 1936, the face of which is nearly the size of grown man's palm. The prototype may cost the buyer up to 500,000 francs.
Another watch by the legendary Geneva company, made with pink gold and including a perpetual calendar, complete with the Gobbi Milano original retail certificate, could sell for well over 1 million francs.
A more historic item, a travel alarm clock made in 1812 for the Queen of Naples, was being put on sale by a direct descendant of Joachim Murat and Caroline Bonaparte, who were the rulers of the Italian coastal city before the fall of Napoleon I, her brother, and the subsequent political realignments throughout Europe.
Back at Sotheby's, a set of diamond bracelets from the second half of the 19th century, one with a portrait of Queen Therese of Bavaria and the other with a picture of King Ludwig, had an estimated worth of around 100,000 dollars.
Also expected to be on sale will be a 33-piece private collection, including several pieces by Harry Winston and Van Cleef and Arpels.
Christened "a celebration of taste and jewels," the private collection of rare gems - many of them crafted by the world's most accomplished designers - will likely be broken up and sold off to various buyers.
While it might be exciting if one person bought all the lots of the collection, "they will now have new lives and become parts of new collections," Brett O'Conner at Sotheby's said.
And if the buyers and onlookers get thirsty during the busy auction week, the can hop over to Christie's fine wine sale, which will feature Bordeaux from various makers dating back to 1982.
Be forewarned, though, that some bottles may cost up to 40,000 francs. However, the auction house could probably be pushed into providing the glasses for the new owner to enjoy the purchase.
