Yellow sapphire pendant discovered in 1946 to lead Sotheby’s Jewellery sale.

By Richard Brewster, on 01-May-2015

Three high priced items should whet serious collector appetites at Sotheby’s Australia forthcoming jewellery auction from 5.30pm Tuesday May 12 at 41 Exhibition Street, Melbourne.

One is the extremely rare “Willows” 35.73-carat yellow sapphire pendant carrying a catalogue estimate of $100,000-$150,000.

Three high priced items should whet serious collector appetites at Sotheby’s Australia forthcoming jewellery auction from 5.30pm Tuesday May 12 at 41 Exhibition Street, Melbourne. One is the extremely rare “Willows” 35.73-carat yellow sapphire pendant carrying a catalogue estimate of $100,000-$150,000.

Three high priced items should whet serious collector appetites at Sotheby’s Australia forthcoming jewellery auction from 5.30pm Tuesday May 12 at 41 Exhibition Street, Melbourne. One is the extremely rare “Willows” 35.73-carat yellow sapphire pendant carrying a catalogue estimate of $100,000-$150,000.

Reportedly unearthed on August 14, 1946 in central Queensland by John Anderson, the sapphire’s extraordinary size places in an exclusive category and is the largest and finest Australian sapphire that the American Gemological Laboratories has examined to date.

A rare and important 18-carat gold fancy vivid pink and white diamond ring is another major drawcard with a catalogue estimate of $330,000-$530,000.

Owned by William Leslie, one of the founding directors of Ashton Mining, in 1981 he purchased the rough stone, which represented the first one-carat plus pink diamond valuation sample the consortium retrieved during the exploration phase.

The diamond was subsequently polished in London under the supervision of Stuart Devlin and made into a ring.

A pair of 18-carat white gold and diamond earrings signed by Graff with a $100,000-$150,000 estimate should be another crowd puller.

Viewing:

10am-5pm Friday May 1 to Monday May 4, 30 Queen Street Woollahra NSW.

10am-5pm Friday May 8

About The Author

Richard Brewster has been writing about the antiques and art auction industry for almost 20 years, first in a regular weekly column for Fairfax's The Age newspaper and also in more recent times for his own website Australian Auction Review. With 45 years experience as a journalist and public relations consultant, in 1990 Richard established his own business Brewster & Associates in Melbourne, handling a wide range of clients in the building, financial, antiques and art auction industries.