Someone Just Paid N5.3Billion for a Necklace at Auction

Ronke Kehinde/

A 109.08-carat-Kashmir-royal-blue-sapphire and diamond Peacock necklace has been sold at a price of HK$116million (N5,319,852,099) at a Christie’s auction in Hong Kong, Japan.

The rare gem consisting of 21 stones with 109.08 carats of Kashmir Sapphires was hammered down at HK$101.5million (N4,654,870,587) and sold for HK$116million after premium to the telephone bidder of Vickie Shek, Chairman of Jewellery, Asia.

The highly competitive auction stopped when no one could challenge the anonymous highest bidder with number 8035 tag when the representative raised the bar to $101,500,000.

“They’re all with gorgeous hue of colour; strong saturation of velvet blue, excellent brilliancy, and all these factors make it the top gems of Kashmir Sapphire. To find one stone in this quality is very difficult already, not to mention the whole collection of 109 carats in one necklace. This takes almost 100 years to collect the pieces, and it’s almost impossible. I would say this is one of the rarest-rarest items ever appearing in auction history,” says Vickie Shek in a video.