“The Light of Golconda” possesses exceptional transparency due to its chemical makeup of virtually all carbon, and is estimated to realize in the region of $7 million at Sotheby’s.

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New York--Sotheby’s will be holding its sale of “Magnificent Jewels” here on Dec. 7, offering significant diamonds, gemstones and period signed jewels.

“This December’s Magnificent Jewels sale will cap off an exceptional year for jewelry at Sotheby’s New York,” Lisa Hubbard, chairman of North and South America for Sotheby’s international jewelry division, said. “Each of our jewelry auctions this year has brought our strongest-ever result in its respective month.”

The highlight of the auction is “The Light of Golconda,” an exceptionally rare Golconda diamond ring featuring an old mine, cushion-shaped stone weighing 33 carats, estimated to realize in the region of $7 million.

“Every great diamond has something special about it, but this one is a truly magical stone,” Hubbard said. “It has everything: its translucence is breathtaking...and the antique cushion cut that spreads out along the hand makes the stone look different every time you see it.”

Located in south central India in what is today the state of Hyderabad, the ancient Kingdom of Golconda produced some of the most desirable diamonds in the world. The Kingdom no longer exists, but diamonds from those mines as sought after to this day, as they are part of less than 2 percent of the world’s gems that are the most chemically pure.

Another leader of the sale will be a rare fancy intense pink diamond ring (below) with a cut-cornered square modified brilliant-cut diamond weighing 22 carats. Only two dozen diamonds of pure pink color weighing more than 10 carats have ever appeared at auction, putting this pink diamond in the same company as The Graff Pink. The ring is estimated to realize in the region of $13 million.

A one-of-a-kind 1924 Cartier platinum and diamond sautoir necklace (below) with a lavalliere pendant from the Art Deco period will also be offered at the auction, estimated to realize $750,000-$1 million. The necklace was formerly owned by Elisabeth Mills Reid, a lifelong supporter of the Red Cross who was born in 1858 to one of the wealthiest families in America, and Helen Rogers Reid, Elisabeth’s daughter-in-law and former chairman of the New York Tribune.

Jewelry featuring Kashmir diamonds and Burma rubies will also be offered at the auction, as well as designs from Van Cleef & Arpels, David Webb and George Headley.

A selection of pieces from the sale will travel for public exhibition before auction. Dates are as follows:

Sotheby’s Geneva: Nov. 12-14
Sotheby’s Los Angeles: Nov. 18
Grand Hyatt Hotel, Hong Kong: Nov. 25-27
Sotheby’s New York: Dec. 3-7