Christie's to auction diamonds from 316-carat stone

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Christie's to auction diamonds from 316-carat stone

September 17, 2008

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New York—Two polished diamonds cut from the 316.15-carat "Ponahalo" diamond will be the highlights of Christie's October auction.

Christie's "Jewels: The New York Sale" is scheduled for Oct. 15 in New York and features diamonds of 102.11 carats and 70.87 carats, both cut from the Ponahalo diamond.

The Ponahalo diamond came out of De Beers' Venetian mine in 2005, and is the largest stone ever to emerge from that mine.

Jonathan Oppenheimer of De Beers named the diamond: Ponahalo means "vision" in Sotho, the tribal language spoken by the Venda tribe in the area of South Africa where the stone was mined.

The Steinmetz Diamond Group cut the Ponahalo into four polished diamonds and left one in rough form. The two rectangular-cut diamonds to be offered at the Christie's auction are the largest of the four and took 18 months to craft.

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the Ponahalo diamonds will be donated to Russell Simmons' Diamond Empowerment Fund, a nonprofit organization that funds educational programs in Africa where diamonds are a natural resource.

Other important pieces to be included in the auction are a necklace featuring a rectangular-cut 40.21-carat internally flawless D-color diamond, and a sapphire, emerald and pearl necklace set with a cushion-cut sapphire of 68.16 carats and a square-cut 8.37-carat emerald estimated at $1 million-$1.5 million.

On Oct. 15, Christie's will also auction off a collection of signed jewels called "Superb 20th Century Jewels from an American Collection." The sale will include 110 lots of signed jewels by leading jewelry-makers of the 20th century.

Included in the offerings is a retro diamond and gold necklace by René Boivin that has a fringe of five-strand "pampilles" tassels featuring collet-set diamonds on a flexible, woven gold band.

The necklace, crafted for Princess Irene of Greece, was delivered in 1951 and is estimated at $200,000-$300,000.

The two sales include a total of 273 lots and are expected to realize more than $35 million.

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