Auctioned for nearly half a million euros: in Brest, a Kashmir sapphire can hide another

With its unique blue in the world, the Kashmir sapphire put on sale by “a great Breton and French aristocratic family” at the Adjug’Art auction house in Brest (Finistère) this Tuesday afternoon, has aroused desire from the four corners of the globe.

This exceptional sapphire, set on a ring between 1883 and 1887, by the famous jeweler of the Palais royal Blanchet, considered one of the best goldsmiths of the end of the 18th century, and coming from a deposit in the heights of the Himalayas, quickly dried up at the end of the 19th century, sold for a sum almost twice its estimate.

“We had a great bidding battle on the telephone with eight recognized buyers, from all over the world,” rejoices Me Yves Cosquéric. The sapphire was sold under the hammer for 395,000 euros but, with costs (25%), the buyer will ultimately pay €493,750.” That’s almost half a million euros!

The buyer? One of the largest precious stone traders in the world…

It is not, in any case, the French buyer who had acquired the twin stone of these old “sleepers”, 15 years earlier. “This time, it’s one of the world’s largest dealers in rare precious stones,” continues the auctioneer. All I can tell you is that it comes from the Orient, between the Middle East and the Far East. »

But the big surprise is the “revelation” of Me Cosquéric. This precious stone, which has hit the headlines in recent days, is perhaps not the last from this deposit of rare sapphires still known. In other words, this Kashmir sapphire could well hide another… and Brittany again, what’s more!

“There is a link, that’s for sure,” slips the Brestois. Another great Breton aristocratic family contacted us for an opinion on a sapphire… which they want to have appraised, in the same way! It is not always easy to recognize a Burmese sapphire from a Kashmir sapphire, but it (us) makes us dream…”. Experts will have more certainty in the coming weeks but this exceptional sale may not be the last.