$4.82 million brought in at Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels auction

The collection of natural pearls that Kelly and Calvin Klein put up for the Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels auction in Manhattan –formerly from the collection of the Duchess of Windsor–brought in $4.82 million, well above the high estimate of $3.1 million.

Both the single-strand natural pearl and diamond necklace from Cartier and the natural pearl and diamond pendant (also Cartier, circa 1950), sold to a single private European collector for $3.625 million and $505,000, respectively. The pair of black and white natural pearl and diamond Van Cleef & Arpels ear clips, circa 1957, sold for $690,600 to a sole unique buyer.

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Other noted pieces sold at auction, unrelated to the Kleins’ collection, included a pair of diamond pendant Harry Winston earrings that went for $3.961 million, nearly double the $2 million high estimate, and a historic Franklin Delano Roosevelt Victory Clock (a personal gift from Pierre Cartier in 1934), which not only sold for $1.609 million, above its $1 million high estimate, but set a new record for a Cartier clock at auction.

The overall sale brought in a total of $49,827,926, a significant increase from the high estimate of $37.4 million, and set a new record as the highest total ever for a jewelry sale at Sotheby’s New York.

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