With limited supply of high-quality rough jadeite from Myanmar where most of the top-level jadeite in the market comes from, demand for jadeite and jadeite jewellery is soaring along with a substantial price increase. As a result, with high aesthetic and investment values, rare jadeite pieces have been attention grabbers in most jewellery auctions, stirring up rounds of fierce competitions and breaking many price records.
At the magnificent jewellery and jadeite sale in April 2014, Sotheby’s Hong Kong sold the Hutton-Mdivani necklace, a natural jadeite bead necklace of historical importance, at HK$214 million (or US$27.44 million), doubled the estimate and smashed a world auction record for any jadeite jewellery.
Quek Chin Yeow, deputy chairman and head of jewellery department of Sotheby’s Asia commented: “Of the finest quality and striking proportions, this jadeite bead necklace with a storied past is an epitome of the mysterious and captivating beauty of jadeite, the most revered oriental gemstone. It stands as the most important piece of jadeite jewellery known to the world.”
At Tiancheng International’s jewellery and jadeite autumn auction 2014, a natural jadeite and diamond pendant necklace with a matching ring fetched HK$92 million (or US$11.8 million), setting a world auction record for any cabochon jadeite suite. At their 2015 autumn auction, the top lot belonged to a suite of pendant earrings, rings, and pendant necklace set with natural jadeite, icy lavender jadeite, coloured diamonds and diamonds. This lot was hammered at almost HK$26 million (or US$3.33 million).
According to Stewart Young, Tiancheng’s director of jewellery department, at the 2015 spring auction, the top lot was a suite of necklace, ring, and earrings set with natural jadeite and diamonds, sold at HK$29 million (or US$3.78 million). “We were very pleased by the results under such conservative atmosphere. It reaffirmed our strategy towards exquisite jewellery. While the top 10 lots sold were all rare finds in the markets, our designer pieces were also sought-after by connoisseurs, reflecting the keen demand for refined diamond and jadeite jewellery,” he expressed.
He also stated that, even though green jadeite has been the most expensive variety in the market, premium jadeite is not limited to green. Lavender jadeite and icy jadeite have come into vogue in auctions as these colours are easy to match with different garments and styles.
For Christie’s Hong Kong magnificent jewellery sale, it achieved a total of US$215 million last year, making it the best-performing year for jewellery in Asia. Jadeite contributed a critical 20 percent of the total. The collection of jadeite jewellery from the family of K’ung Hsiang-Hsi was sold for US$14.6 million, seven times the presale estimate. The top lot of the collection, a jadeite ring set with diamonds, garnered US$2.33 million, 28 times over its estimate.
Fung Chiang, associate vice president of the company, told Hong Kong Jewellery: “The extraordinary results showed that there is great demand and interest in rare, unique and historical jadeite pieces.”
When asked about the market trend of jadeite in auction, Fung Chiang said: “Jadeite will always play an important role in Asian auctions as it is an endearing gemstone for not only the Chinese, but also jewellery connoisseurs around the world. High-quality pieces will be in short supply and thus in high demand. As usual, we will continue to offer jadeite pieces in our auctions.”
Stewart Young from Tiancheng also revealed that they will collect more rare and high-quality jadeite pieces as the supply reduces with climbing demand. He added that jadeite jewellery with unique and unconventional design, good value for money, and suitable for daily occasions is another hot category in future’s auctions.
← Back