The largest collection of Bulgari jewels ever presented at auction will be dispersed in Geneva in a Christie's sale that promises to make records and the proceeds of which will go to charity.
Over 700 pieces will end up under the auctioneer's hammer, made by the great makers of the time - as well as Bulgari, Boivin, Cartier, Kochert, Tiffany, Harry Winston, Van Cleef and Arpels.
All proceeds will go to the Heidi Horten Foundation of Vaduz in Switzerland which supports a museum of contemporary art in the heart of old Vienna and other philanthropic initiatives in the field of medical research.
Widow of the tycoon Helmut Horten, heir in turn to a fortune in department stores and founder of the Viennese museum that bears her name, Heidi Horten died in 2022.
Her jewels have a pre-auction estimate of over 150 million dollars, a figure that makes the collection the most valuable ever up for grabs to the highest bidder and which, according to estimates, should surpass previous records at Christie's such as when the jewels were dispersed in 2011 Liz Taylor jewelry totaling over $100 million.
Bulgari's jewels date from the 1970s and allow us to reconstruct half a century of Italian jewelery history as a whole.
Christie's declined to raise the estimate for a spectacular 90-carat diamond necklace by Harry Winston originally sold by Cartier.
Heidi Horten began buying jewelry in the 1970s from the best global retailers, combining vintage pieces and contemporary design: "
But these days another sale is causing a stir in the world of precious stones, this time at Sotheby's on June 8 in New York: the star of the session will be the extremely rare 10.57-carat Eternal Pink, considered the most vivid pink diamond ever to appear on the market.
The estimate of 35 million dollars which translates into a record of over three million per carat is mind-boggling.
The stone will be presented on April 1 in Hong Kong to celebrate the auction house's 50th anniversary in Asia.
A world tour will then begin with stops in Dubai, Singapore, Shanghai, Taiwan and Geneva.
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