6.95-ct Pink Diamond Leads Vanderbilt Sale
October 05, 25
(IDEX Online) - Jewels belonging to the Vanderbilts - once the richest family in the US - are to be auctioned by Phillips Geneva next month.
Highlights of The Geneva Jewels Auction: V include an old-cut Golconda 6.95-carat fancy vivid purplish pink diamond (estimate not yet disclosed) and a Tiffany 42.68-carat sugarloaf Kashmir sapphire and diamond brooch (estimate $1m to $1.5m).
There's also a sapphire and diamond ring step-cut Kashmir sapphire weighing 18.09 carats (estimate $2.2m to $2.8m) and a pair of brilliant-cut diamond ear studs weighing 8.00 carats and 8.28 carats, both D / VVS1 (estimate $600,000 to $850,000).
The Vanderbilt family amassed an unimaginable fortune from its shipping and railroads empire.
Cornelius Vanderbilt, then aged just 16, bought a small boat with a $100 loan from his mother in 1810.
He built a vast business and went on to become the richest person in the US, worth approximately $100m at the time of his death in 1877—equivalent to at least $185bn today.
His son William Henry Vanderbilt doubled the family fortune to more than $200m (equivalent to $370bn) within a few years.
But the family's fortune has dwindled over the generations and the collective net worth of the living Vanderbilt descendants is today estimated at just $200m.
The Geneva Jewels Auction: V, which includes The Vanderbilt Family Jewels, takes place on 10 November.
Pic, courtesy Phillips, shows the 6.95-carat fancy vivid purplish pink diamond.