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Barnebys HQ
Brahegatan 10
BOX 5038
114 37 Stockholm
All auctions / Jewelry & Gems / Belle Époque Necklace with a Natural “Fancy Blue” Diamond, c. 1905
Naturally colored diamonds are very rare. Yellow and brown stones are still relatively common; they form as a result of nitrogen being incorporated into the diamond’s crystal lattice. Green diamonds, such as the “Green Dresden,” owe their colour to prolonged exposure to natural radioactivity. Blue diamonds, on the other hand, contain individual atoms of the element boron in their crystal lattice, which gives them their colour. This is highly unlikely, since boron occurs naturally only in seawater and on the ocean floor, but not normally within the Earth’s interior. They can therefore only have formed during those rare moments when the oceanic crust, at a depth of many hundreds of kilometers, was melted by volcanic activity, thereby releasing individual boron atoms. The necklace presented here features one such rare natural “Fancy Blue” diamond in an elegant silver setting accented with additional diamonds. They form a large bow, from which fluttering ribbons frame the pendent blue diamond. Its colour is a light blue-gray that is subtle yet clearly discernible. Setting diamonds in silver may seem surprising from today’s perspective: silver is considered a less valuable material, and white gold and platinum seem more appropriate for diamonds. Platinum, however, did not come into widespread use until around the turn of the century; the temperatures required to work it were very high. White gold, in turn, was only developed in response to the restrictions of World War I. Throughout the 19th century and well into the 20th, silver was in fact the material of choice! On the reverse side, the silver is backed with rose gold to prevent the piece of jewellery from staining clothing. So when our goldsmiths wanted to replace the chain—because the original one was on the verge of breaking—we opted for a matching rose gold chain. This delicate necklace was created in the years shortly after 1900. All-white jewellery set with diamonds was the standard for high-quality jewellery at that time. A look at the catalogs of contemporary jewelers, such as Kind & Sons from Philadelphia or Bansse from Paris reveals very similar designs. While the shapes vary, they are nevertheless quite similar. This necklace, too, can therefore be dated to this period.
Estimate:$15,619.91
Sold for:-
View all items fromHofer AntikschmuckorJewelry & Gems
Hammer price:
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Estimate:
$15,619.91
OCT 27 | 4:00 PM
OCT 23 | 8:00 AM
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