A 275-year-old carved emerald necklace from the Mughal Empire sold for $6.2m, more than double its high estimate, at Christie’s New York.
It is made of five Colombian emeralds, with a combined weight of 1,178.50 carats (8.3oz/235g) on gold and magenta cords.
Three are carved hexagonal – the largest is 470 carat and inscribed “Ahmad Shah Durr-i Durran” (Pearl of Pearls) – and two are carved pear-shaped.
The necklace once belonged to Nader Shah, one of the most powerful rulers in Iranian history, and one-time owner of the Koh-i-Noor diamond.
He seized the necklace after capturing Delhi in 1739 and taking control of the royal treasury of the Mughal Empire, which ruled much of the Indian subcontinent from 1526 to 1857.
The necklace carried a pre-sale estimate of $2m to $3m.
Gemfields, the world’s largest colored gemstone miner has reported a $100.8m loss for 2024 – and announced a $30m a rights issue to help secure its future.
It suspended mining at its Kagem emerald mine in Zambia for up to six months last December. It was also forced to temporarily close its Montepuez ruby mine, in Mozambique due to civil unrest.
The UK-based miner made a comparatively small loss of $2.8m in 2023, but says market conditions in 2024 were “more challenging than we could have anticipated”.
In its latest trading update Gemfields blamed the oversupply of emeralds by a Zambian competitor, lower-than-expected production of premium rubies at Montepuez and a weak gemstone market, especially in China.
“While our planning of Gemfields’ growth programme did not envisage the requirement of additional funds from shareholders, the scope and scale of the difficulties we have encountered contemporaneously has unfortunately necessitated a change in approach,” said CEO Sean Gilbertson.
The company will be seeking shareholder approval for a fully committed and underwritten rights issue of 556m new shares to raise approximately $30m.
Total revenue for 2024 was $213m, down 19 per cent, due to disrupted market for emeralds in H2 2024 and lower production of premium rubies.
Gemfields said construction of a second ruby processing plant in Montepuez was on track. At Kagem the only produced are by processing the pre-mined stockpile.
