Lucapa sells 404 carat diamond for $22.5 million

Australia-based Lucapa Diamond (ASX:LOM) has sold a 404 carat stone from it's alluvial operations in Angola for $ 22.5 million or $55,585 per carat. Other recent finds include a 68.1 carat gem-quality diamond. Lucapa has been mining diamonds since January of last year. The Lulo concessions are about 700 kilometers (435 miles) east of Angola’s capital Luanda.

Petra Diamonds sells 32.33 carat Pink Diamond for $15m

Petra Diamonds announced it had sold a 32.33 carat ‘exceptional' pink diamond for $15 million, or $463,965 per carat. The stone was found in November at Petra's Williamson mine in Tanzania. The Williamson Diamond Mine is located 160km south of Mwanza town in the Shinyanga Province of Tanzania, and is one of seven mines operated by Petra.

The mine was established in 1940 by Dr. John Williamson, a Canadian geologist, and has been in continuous operation since then, making it one of the oldest continuously operating diamond mines in the world. Over its lifetime it has produced over 19 million carats of diamonds. Petra owns 75 per cent of the Williamson mine while the government of Tanzania owns 25 per cent.

10.07 carat Pink Diamond expected to bring $ 8m to $12m

In 2007 a South Florida man purchased a $2 million pink diamond ring for his wife. Now, the unique 10.07-carat pink diamond will be sold in a worldwide auction at Christie's for an expected $8 to $12 million. Despite the global financial recession, the value of their colored diamond increased more than 400 percent in the past nine years. Most of the world's pink diamonds come from the Argyle mine in Western Australia, whose supply is expected to run out by 2020. High demand from wealthy individuals and savvy investors around the world is driving the steep increase in values. Christie's will be featuring the pink diamond at its April 20 jewelry auction in New York.

Pink diamonds have increased an estimated 20 percent annually for the past five years.

World's Most Expensive Watches

The Swiss-made Chopard Super Ice Cube features 60 carats of diamonds cut into perfect cubes. This luxury watch and bracelet is water resistant to 100 feet. $ 1.1m

Housed in an elaborate 18-karat white gold case, the Patek Philippe Sky Moon Tourbillonit has a solid gold dial coated with blue enamel in champlevé and cloisonné techniques to create artistic functional elements. Three to five will be completed per year. Around $1.2 million.

The Excalibur Quatuor silicon watch take 2,400 hours to build and over 7 years of research to create. Each of its balances pulse four times per second, so instead of a classic ticking watch, it sounds more like a whirring machine. Only three of these watches exist in the world, each made of 590 parts. $1.1m

The Hublot Classic Fusion Haute Joaillerie “$1 Million,” limited to only eight pieces, features 1,185 baguette diamonds covering every surface of the watch, from the case and bracelet to the openworked dial. For the case alone, a 15-person team had to perform 1,800 hours of cutting and 200 hours of dimensional checking and quality control. $1.2m

The Jaeger-LeCoultre Hybris Mechanica à Grande Sonnerie has 1,300 parts, which make it capable of playing the entire Big Ben chiming sequence. $ 1.4m.

Produced as a limited edition of only seven pieces, the Vacheron Constantin Tour de I’Ile, which celebrated the brand’s 250th anniversary, is priced at $1,538,160. The watch has two faces (front and back) to make room for its many displays, including a second time zone, perpetual calendar, and sunset time indicator, among others. The Greubel Forsey Art Piece 1 was revealed in 2013, and quickly rose to the upper echelon of the “most expensive watches ever made” rankings, with a price of CHF 1.5m (about $1.6m).

Richard Mille upped the ante in 2014 with the launch of the Richard Mille Tourbillon RM 56-02 Sapphire. Richard Mille’s most expensive watch yet, which breaks not only the $1 million barrier but the $2 million one as well, priced at a very cool $2m The A. Lange & Söhne Grand Complication, unveiled in 2013, is priced at a whooping 1.92 million euros (about $2,497,000 US). The Grand Complication features a grand sonnerie and petit sonnerie in addition to a minute repeater, a monopusher chronograph with a split-seconds function and jumping seconds, and a perpetual calendar with a moon-phase display.

The Platinum World Time created by Patek Philippe was sold at auction for over $4m in 2002. It is believed that only one was created and, at the time, it was the most expensive wristwatch in the world.

The 18-karat gold pocket watch Super Complication made by Patek Philippe for banker Henry Graves Jr. in 1933 required five years to design and build. It possesses 24 “complications,” or mechanical features beyond basic timekeeping, including a different chronological function for each hour of the day. It was the most complicated watch ever created and the most expensive watch ever sold at auction. $11m.

This Swiss-made Chopard watch features three heart-shaped diamonds of 38 carats, surrounded by white and yellow diamonds weighing 163 carats. $26m.

Graff Diamonds Hallucination watch. The bracelet has a tiny face and huge coloured diamonds all set in platinum. One was made. $55m.

Sotheby's Magnificent Jewels & Jadeite Sale

Est $30 million to $35 million

Heading Sotheby's Magnificent Jewels & Jadeite Sale April 5, 2016 is the De Beers Millennium Jewel 4, a superb oval internally flawless fancy vivid blue diamond weighing 10.10 carats, which is the largest oval fancy vivid blue diamond ever to appear at auction. Offered alongside are three extremely rare coloured diamonds. A 4.08 carat fancy vivid orange diamond, a 4.90 carat fancy intense green diamond, and a 10.30 carat fancy vivid yellow diamond.

Est $847,572 — $924,624

Emerald and Diamond Brooch $ 1.2m to $ 1.5m

Art Deco Burmese Ruby and Diamond Bracelet, Cartier. $ 480,000 to $ 680,000

Exceptional Jadite Ring. $ 3.8m to $ 4.5m

Fancy intense green diamond weighing 4.90 carats

Fancy Vivid Yellow Diamond and Diamond Ring. 7.03 carats

Fancy Light Pinkish Brown Colour, VVS1 Clarity. 7.10 carats.

See ----->http://highlifelivingluxury.blogspot.ca/2016/03/de-beers-millennium-jewel-4-expected-to.html

Chaumet Fine Jewels

Marie-Étienne Nitot (1750-1809) settled in Paris in 1780 after having served his apprenticeship at Auber, then jeweller to Queen Marie-Antoinette. His aristocratic clientele remained loyal to him until the French Revolution in 1789. He later became the official jeweller of Napoleon in 1802. Nitot created the jewellery that would offer the French Empire it's splendor and power.

The jewellery for Napoleon’s wedding to Joséphine de Beauharnais, and later to Marie Louise de Habsburg-Lorraine, was created by Nitot. He designed and set Napoleon’s coronation crown, the hilt of his sword as well as many other pieces for the court. François Regnault Nitot took over his father’s jewellery House on his death in 1809 and continued his activity until the fall of the Empire in 1815. Napoleon’s exile caused Nitot, a fervent royalist, to withdraw from the jewellery House, selling the business to his foreman.

French Tiara given to Josephine by Napoleon.

Chaumet was bought in October 1999 by LVMH. After an unsuccessful attempt to penetrate the American market in the end of the 1990s, the company opened stores in Asia to fuel growth. Chaumet is now part of the watch and jewellery brands that includes TAG Heuer, Zenith, Fred, Hublot, Montres Christian Dior, and De Beers Diamond Jewellers.