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Fred Leighton’s Personal Collection Totals $2.8M at Auction
The top jewelry lot of the Sotheby’s sale in New York was a Chaumet diamond necklace-bracelet combination.
This circa 1930 Chaumet necklace-bracelet combination set with old European, single-cut and baguette diamonds sold for $112,500 at Sotheby’s New York on Wednesday, making it the top jewelry lot of “The Jeweler’s Eye: The Personal Collection of Fred Leighton.”
New York--Though it seemed to garner plenty of interest among jewelry lovers, the Sotheby’s New York auction of the late Fred Leighton’s personal collection was not a white glove sale.
“The Jeweler’s Eye: The Personal Collection of Fred Leighton” totaled $2.8 million on Wednesday.
It featured not only many jewelry pieces that exemplified Leighton’s love for period jewelry, but also fine furniture and decorative arts spanning the 17th through 20th centuries and representing a number of genres--Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Victorian and Asian.
The top overall lot was a Cartier gold, turquoise and diamond grande petite repeating desk clock that sold for $275,000, going for well beyond its pre-sale estimate of $80,000.
The top jewelry lot of the sale, meanwhile, proved to be a circa 1930 Chaumet necklace-bracelet combination set with old European, single-cut and baguette diamonds, which sold for $112,500.
This was followed closely by the circa 1950 Marchak necklace seen below, composed of braided gold rope work, interspersed with baguette diamonds and embellished with carved rubies and floral motifs set with ruby beads and round and baguette diamonds. It garnered $100,000. 
Meanwhile, a number of the pre-sale highlights didn’t sell on Wednesday.
This included a circa 1945 Cartier brooch-necklace combination set with an emerald-cut citrine in a surround of oval-shaped citrines, old European and single-cut diamonds that was expected to garner between $60,000 and $80,000; and a circa 1910 Cartier bow brooch featuring an old European-cut diamond at center and accented with old mine, old European round and single-cut diamonds estimated to garner between $50,000 and $70,000.
A Raymond Templier necklace, circa 1950, with old European, single-cut and baguette diamonds in a braided design expected to garner up to $100,000 also failed to find a buyer Wednesday.
For a full list of results, visit Sothebys.com.
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