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Christie’s strikes gold in Dubai jewellery auction

DUBAI - Dozens of rare pieces of jewellery and watches sold like hotcakes in the glitzy emirate of Dubai, fetching a total of 11.8 million dollars at Christie’s first jewellery auction in the Middle East.

Almost 300 affluent Emiratis, expats and visitors from the West and India converged on a luxury hotel for the event on Wednesday night.

In all, 146 items out of a rare collection of 162 pieces, featuring such illustrious names in the world of jewellery as Cartier and Bulgari, sold under the hammer.

A giant 16.51-carat diamond solitaire with the Van Cleef & Arpels signature was the star of the show, fetching 1.192 million dollars, way above its estimated price.

Not far behind in the extravagance stakes, a 14.62 carat diamond went for 732,800 dollars, whereas the estimated value was between half a million and 700,000 dollars.

However, a pair of pear-shaped and diamond-studded pendant earrings estimated to be worth 700,000 dollars was snapped up for 576,000 dollars.

A separate auction of international modern and contemporary art was to follow on Thursday in Dubai, with 196 works by artists from the Arab world, India, Iran and the West.

Middle East art specialist William Lawrie said the sale was expected to fetch more than the seven to nine million dollars set as the estimated value of the works.

The first Christie’s art auction in the Middle East was also staged in the booming emirate of Dubai, a member of the United Arab Emirates, last May.

That sale raked in almost 8.5 million dollars, with the highest bids going on Indian art.