Christie’s NY Jewels Raise $29.4 Mln, Ponahalo $6.3 Mln

Christie’s said on Thursday proceeds from its “Jewels: The New York Sale” and “Superb 20th Century Jewels from an American Collection” auctions totaled $29.42 million. The jewels were 82 percent sold by value and 69 percent sold by lot, the fine arts auction house said in a statement.

The two Ponahalo Diamonds Steinmetz Diamond Group auctioned

The illustrious Ponahalo diamonds, weighing 102.11 and 70.87 carats, central to the auctions due to their rarity, sold for $4,114,500 and $2,154,500 respectively. The diamonds were bought by Amer Radwan of Radwan Diamond and Jewelry Trading in Dubai.

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the Ponahalo Diamonds will be donated by diamond owners the Steinmetz Diamond Group to the Diamond Empowerment Fund, a non-profit co-founded by Russell Simmons.

“I'm extremely pleased at the way this initiative for educating and empowering Africans through the sale of diamonds is taking off.  We are thankful to Steinmetz for choosing the Diamond Empowerment Fund and, through DEF, the students at the Maharishi Institute for this great gift,” Russell Simmons, co-creator of the Diamond Empowerment Fund said.

The name “Ponahalo” was keyed by Jonathan Oppenheimer, head of the chairman’s office at De Beers Group, and means “vision” in Sotho, the tribal language spoken by the Venda tribe in the area of South Africa where the 316.15 carats rough diamond was mined.

Steinmetz, a leading diamond manufacturer and Diamond Trading Company (DTC) Sightholder, cut the original rough diamond into four polished diamonds. It took the trading group 18 months to shape the largest two diamonds on sale into rectangular-cut gems.