A 48 carat Diamond Ring was auctioned by Christie’s for $4.2 million.  Christie’s Importal Jewels Sale in New York generated $11 million in total sales on June 14, 2011, making the one sale of the 48 carat ring roughly 38% of total generated that day.

The ring itself sports a beautiful and extremely rare 46.51-carat oval-cut diamond of E color and VVS2 clarity and two smaller one carat pear shaped diamonds, D color and VS1/VS2 clarity, flanking it on the sides.   The pre-bidding estimate of the ring value was set at $2.5 to $3.5 million, and even in this economic downturn and rising diamond prices the interest in the jewelry at auction was quite high as reported by Christie’s New York.

Other jewelry of note was the flawless 10-carat pear cut diamond ring sold for $1.3 million, a pair of 17.8-carat fancy yellow diamond earrings sold for $722.5k, 19.2-carat fancy yellow flawless square cut diamond ring for $458.5k, and a 9.76-carat diamond ring made by Sabbadini sold for $434.5k.

Most all the jewelry auctioned off that day were sold for significantly higher prices than the pre-bidding estimated values, a clear indicator of fast rising diamond prices and demand.

Christie’s was founded in 1766 by James Christie, and started off strongly by hosting some of the most notable auctions in history.  Today, Christie’s hosts over 450 auctions year and has 53 offices in 32 countries with 10 salerooms worldwide.