KL Desk
Srinagar
A ring with a Kashmir sapphire sold for $ 1.37 million (more than Rs 7 crore) at a Christie’s auction in New York, Monday, significantly more than auction estimates.
Earlier this year a diamond-platinum ring with 8.99 carat Kashmir sapphire was sold for $527,500 (Rs. 2.86 crore) at an auction in New York at more than double of its pre-sale estimate.
The cushion-shaped sapphire measuring 13.66 x 12.41 x 6.27 mm and described by Heritage Auctions as a ‘breathtaking stone’ with no evidence of heat treatment was the centre piece of the recent USD 4.1 million Jewellery Signature sale.
The existence of sapphires in considerable quantities in some part of the North-West Himalayas was first brought to light in 1881, or early in 1882, when some were brought into Simla by traders from Lahol, who stated that they had been obtained from a spot among the mountains on the borders of Zanskar, where a landslip had laid bare the rocks beneath the soil, and disclosed the presence of the gems.
According to the auction house, the spirited bidding on the large Kashmir sapphire was closely matched by the impressive contest for a dramatic Colombian emerald, diamond, platinum Ring.
