The Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index (KFLII) report, released by the independent global property consultancy in June, focuses on the increasing value of coloured gemstones, seen to be outperforming the wider jewellery market and therefore increasingly popular with investors and collectors worldwide. The KFLII series provides data on investments of passion, such as whisky, cars, jewellery and others, tracking each over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report said that although jewellery looks to have had a tough twelve months, the overall figure hides a more nuanced story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While pearl jewellery did indeed fall back in value by 13% over the past year \u2013 after a decade of very strong growth \u2013 other sectors of the market performed much better. Belle \u00c9poque and Art Deco jewellery, for example, saw 9% growth, while Post-War jewellery was up 7%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Andrew Shirley, head of luxury research at Knight Frank, commented, \u201cIn this issue of our Luxury Investment Index, we take an in-depth look at the performance of coloured gemstones. The interesting story here is that coloured gemstones are outperforming the wider jewellery market with some significant sales taking place already in 2019.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At Bonhams\u2019 London sale at the end of April 2019, several coloured gemstone lots blew away their estimates. The top performer was a 17.43-carat Kashmir sapphire ring, formerly owned by a European noble family that fetched \u00a3723,063, far exceeding its \u00a3300,000 to \u00a3400,000 guide price. The second highest performing lot was a diamond and sapphire transformable necklace by Spanish jeweller, Grassy. Dated to around 1935 and featuring a 34.59-carat Sri Lankan (unheated) sapphire, the necklace sold for \u00a3287,562 against its pre-sale estimate of \u00a3120,000 to \u00a3180,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Record prices per carat for rubies have been achieved with prices rising to $1.2 million in 2016, a threefold growth between 2006 and 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sean Gilbertson, CEO of Gemfields, noted, \u201cThe swing towards precious coloured gemstones is overwhelming. The past decade has seen world record prices for an emerald and ruby surpass that of a colourless diamond on a per carat basis. It surely can\u2019t be long before sapphires overtake diamonds, too. We expect vibrant consumer interest and sector growth to continue. Responsible sourcing will receive ever-increasing attention and become progressively more important to consumers, making gemstone provenance perhaps the key driving factor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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