A gemstone is defined by its beauty. Factors such as size, shape, cut and color all assist in defining a gemstone’s beauty. The most influential of which is color. The ruby, a variety of corundum, is defined by its red hue component.

Rubies can range from orangey red to purplish red in color. Among this wide range, the finest rubies show a pure red to slightly purplish red, enhanced by vivid saturation. Many imaginative names have been used to describe a ruby’s color. The most notable being ‘pigeon’s blood’. This term characterizes the red fluorescence sometimes displayed in a ruby or ‘freshly killed pigeon’.

Although production can vary greatly even within an individual mine, some sources have become synonymous with a particular color and quality. The Mogok region of Myanmar, formerly Burma, produces ‘Burmese’ rubies. This is one of the world’s most important sources for fine rubies. These stones typically rest at the top of the market, often displaying exceptional color and quality. They typically show a red to slightly purplish red hue, vivid saturation and medium-dark tone. They often display a signature red fluorescence and a softness that is a result of internal inclusions. The most exceptional examples of Burmese rubies display a red hue and vivid saturation in addition to its softness and fluorescence.

The ruby market is also shared with the mines of Thailand and Cambodia. These sources produce ‘Thai’ or ‘Pailin’ rubies. They can show a pure red, but typically fall in the range of brownish red to purplish red, with a medium-dark to very dark tone. These stones often face up relatively dark as they commonly display areas of extinction.

Since its discovery in recent decades, the Mozambique mines of Africa, have become the world’s leading supplier of rubies. The introduction of these stones, which tend to range from purplish red to red, sometimes with a tint of orange, have forced the trade’s language to adjust. The Gemological Institute of America is now utilizing terms such as ‘crimson’, a slightly purplish red and ‘scarlet’, a red reflecting an orange tint, to characterize these increasingly common stones.

Many factors contribute to the beauty of a gemstone, including size, shape and cut. Nevertheless, color and origin, which are often tied together, remain the most important.

Clars Auction Gallery sees strong results for Modern + Contemporary Art + Design sales in 2021.

Fine Art

In September, Clars was proud to present the firm’s Modern + Contemporary Art + Design auction. This curated specialized sale was a great success realizing over $1,300,000 with just over 365 lots. The sale was led by Andy Warhol’s iconic Moonwalk screenprints. Printed in 1987, the suite depicts Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin’s famous walk on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission of 1969. Emphasized in both yellow and pink, the prints capture Warhol’s classic pop art visuals while simultaneously demonstrating a shift away from commercial imagery to historical events and figures. The works were intended to be a part of a series depicting famous and influential television events but due to the artist’s death just months after their printing, Moonwalk was the only image completed. With numerous telephone bidders from across the globe, and many collectors vying for the prints, the price soared to $417,500.

Rick Unruh, CEO and President of Clars noted, “Our Modern + Contemporary Art + Design sale reached a global audience, evidence of the fact that Clars is on the map when it comes to Modern and Contemporary. We also continue to reach record prices with works by Andy Warhol. It couldn’t have been better timing in offering these screenprints, with the splash down of the SpaceX Inspiration4 this weekend — the first all-civilian space flight.” 

Another major highlight from the sale was a Paul Wonner (American, 1920–2008) painting, Flowers and Boxes of Fruit (1991) that commanded $125,000, well over its $80,000–120,000 estimate.

Portraiture of racy historical sitters are often a favorite among collectors. Such was the case at Clars Auction Gallery on February 21, when The Lady in Black and Green (Mrs Dudley Ward) by Sir John Lavery (Irish, 1856–1941) crossed the block in the firm’s Fine Art & Antique Auction. The sitter was an English socialite best known for being the married mistress of the Prince of Wales (who later became King Edward VIII) from 1918 to 1929. Painted in 1920 at the peak of her romance with the future king, this oil on canvas stirred up some old gossip. With numerous international telephone bidders vying for the portrait, it ultimately commanded a total of $135,300.

Rick Unruh, CEO and director of the Fine Art department at Clars said, “We were very pleased with the outcome of Lavery’s painting, The Lady in Green and Black (Mrs. Dudley Ward). I believe that the sitter, being a fairly renowned personality in early Twentieth Century British society, and her connection to King Edward VIII, made this painting quite special. Also, having 14 international telephone bidders on this lot did help immensely, too.”

The painting came to Clars from a San Francisco Bay Area estate. Deric Torres, senior vice president of Trust and Estates added, “The trust bequeathed many items to institutions around the country, and the Lavery painting is one of many fine items we will be offering from this very important estate.”

Furniture & Decorative Arts

20th Century Design was featured prominently in the 2021 auction series. A Dale Chihuly (American b. 1941), Untitled (Pink and white glass chandelier) commanded $62,500. Art glass always sells well, and Clars will have a nice selection of glass in the March 2022 Art + Design auction, including Chihuly, Fontana Arte, and Afro Celotto among others.

A collection of Hermes furniture realized at total of $77,125 across eight lots. Several of the pieces were reissues of models originally designed by Jean Michel Frank for Hermes in the 1920s. The strong selling price for the Hermes furniture is indicative that Art Deco style is starting to trend into 2022.

A Philip and Kelvin Laverne Eternal Forest coffee table commanded $22,500. This table, from the 1960s, is in a rare natural motif, which undoubtably led to several bidders vying for the lot.

Fine Jewelry

Jewelry at Clars saw great successes in 2021. The department achieved nearly $3M in sales, more than doubling the previous year’s sales. This was in-part to the introduction of their curated Fine Jewelry Sales, which represented excellent examples of diamond, colored gemstone and signed jewelry spanning the Georgian period to contemporary.

The year surmounted by the sale of a very light blue diamond, weighing 8.58 carats. The rare color, often surrounded by myth and lore, thrilled buyers, achieving a sales result of $468,500.

Diamonds continued to achieve top prices with the sale of a 5.04 carats pear brilliant-cut diamond ring, showing G color and VS1 clarity. The sizable stone displaying great clarity achieved a sale price of $87,500.

We also saw excellent results in fresh-to-market antiques, like this Victorian colored diamond brooch designed as a horseshoe, which achieved a sale price $9,375.

The call for signed jewelry was strong across decades. This included the sale of an eighteen karat gold necklace produced by American jewelry house, David Webb, which fetched $19,050; and in addition, the sale of a fine diamond and gemstone brooch, designed by Oskar Woldemar Pihl for Fabregé, designed as a frond, which achieved $12,500.

Asian Art

The Asian Art department had several important auction items, including a gilt bronze Buddhist figure in the Tibeto-Chinese style, that sold for $187,500. Produced during the 15th century for the Ming dynasty, imperial patronage are highly distinguished for their unsurpassed craftsmanship, overall refinement and gracefulness.

The distinct Imperial style of the bronze figure that sold at Clars includes the double-lotus bases with beaded rims and characteristic facial features with broadened outline, gently arched brows above the lidded eyes and subtle smile, all finished with great attention to detail.

A Chinese huanghuali corner leg table, with a single paneled top and “giant’s arms” braces supporting the beaded legs and apron, went for $93,750. The table measured 18 inches high and 77 inches long.

The Eighteenth Century table was cut down to coffee table height and would have originally been taller. They were primarily made for painting, calligraphy or writing in a scholar’s studio.

When asked what made it special, Harry Huang, Associate Director of Asian Art at Clars said, “It’s primarily the age and the size of the table. It’s roughly Eighteenth Century and it’s very comparable to other pieces sold at other major auction houses. The size, at 77 inches, is pretty much the max for that type of table.”

By Lauren Della Croce, Director, Fine Jewelry
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Clars is thrilled to host their Fine Jewelry Auction on Thursday, December 16th, beginning at 10 AM PST. The sale includes a fine selection of diamond, colored gemstone, and signed jewelry spanning from the Georgian period to contemporary. Among this selection are exceptional diamonds.

Diamonds are characterized by the ‘4Cs’: carat, cut, clarity, and color. Typically, the color of a diamond is graded on a scale ranging from D (colorless) to Z (light). When referencing the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) scale, the less color present, the more exceptional, and often more valuable, the diamond.

On the contrary, when determining the quality of fancy colored diamonds, the more color, the more extraordinary. Factors such as purity of the hue, as well as saturation play pivotal roles as well. Colored diamonds are graded beyond the D to Z range, on a scale ranging from Faint to Fancy Vivid.

Fancy colored diamonds are quite rare, with only 1 in every 10,000 diamonds showing a fancy color. The color is often a result of the presence of trace elements, not essential to the chemical composition of the diamond. Yellow diamonds, commonly marketed as “canary diamonds” most commonly contain the trace element, nitrogen.

Coming up for sale on December 16th is lot 5106, a 4.18 carats VS2 fancy light yellow diamond ring.

This fancy light yellow diamond is enhanced by its size, weighing an uncommon weight of 4.18 carats.

The rarest color of all, is pink. Pink colored diamonds range from red to purple. Unlike most colored diamonds, where colors are a result of trace elements, such as nitrogen’s presence in yellow diamonds, the majority of pink hues in pink colored diamonds are a result of a variation in its crystal structure.

The majority of the world’s pink diamonds are sourced from the famous Argyle mine, located in Australia. This mine, which has been a consistent producer of pink diamonds since its opening in 1983, officially closed in 2020.

Coming up for sale on December 16th is lot 5043, a 1.05 carats fancy intense pink-purple diamond ring.

This ring is particularly rare, as only about 28% of pink diamonds range within purplish-pink to pinkish-purple hue range, and 17% weigh over 1.00 carats.

Colored diamonds serve well to bridge the gap between the brilliance synonymous with diamonds, and the hues of gemstones. The rarity of these hues makes them a strong acquisition for a collector.