The proportion of private/trade buying was around 60/40. One of the most active dealers in the room was locally-based Adam Zebrak who, in partnership with his sister Tracy, has become a major player on the Monaco jewellery scene over the last few years. Their purchases on this occasion included a diamond and oval ruby bracelet (c.1925) at €35,000 (£23,300).
A feature of the sale was a 50-lot ensemble from the Monaco-based Estate of Madame S., which Jacques Tajan claimed to have landed against stiff competition from Sotheby’s. Offered without reserve, this stylish collection aroused keen interest.
A platinum and diamond ring, set with a 6.50-carat cushion-cut Burmese ruby, tripled hopes on €102,000 (£68,000); while a 1936 platinum and grey-gold flower brooch by Suzanne Belperron (1900-83), with sapphire cabochons surrounded by blue chalcedony petals, sold for a double-estimate €50,000 (£33,330).
François Tajan claimed the jewellery sale had been “more carefully assembled than in 2003”, adding that “Monaco remains a magical venue with a public you see only here – people are not afraid to wear big pieces in gold or diamonds. Two thirds of the jewels would not have been given to us if we had proposed selling them in Paris.”
Exchange rate: £1 = €1.5
Jewels of the Monaco experience
THE three-session, 630-lot jewellery section of Tajan's (20.33% buyer's premium) August 3-4 sale, with a chirpy attendance of 80-100 throughout, met a more convincing response than the Modern art, bringing €2.7m (£1.8m) hammer, including an aftersale €145,000 (£96,670) for a grey-gold ring with a fancy yellow, rectangular 29.57-carat diamond (estimate €200,000-250,000).
