DUSHANBE, September 11, 2015, Asia-Plus –
ForbesLife
reports a rare gemstone, part of one of the world’s greatest gem collections, will be offered for sale for the first time in 98 years.
The Hope Spinel will be among the top lots of Bonhams London Fine Jewellery Sale on September 24. The 50.13-carat octagonal step-cut spinel is expected to fetch $240,000 – $310,000. However, Emily Barber, director of Bonhams jewelry department in London, said it could sell for a lot more.
London banker Henry Philip Hope amassed the gem collection, including the Hope Diamond and Hope Spinel, and kept it until his death in 1839. Hope never married and secretly gifted his collection of about 700 gems to a nephew to avoid inheritance tax. Family wrangling caused the collection to be split among two nephews.
The spinel was eventually sold at auction in 1917 for approximately $1,600 (about $120,000 in today’s currency). It eventually turned up in the collection of Lady Mount Stephen, who was married to a Canadian philanthropist living in the UK. When Stephen died in 1933, the spinel went to her niece-by-marriage, Elsie Reford, who along with her husband, amassed one of the most important collections of art in Canada. The spinel was gifted to Elsie Refords’ granddaughter, who was also Lady Mount Stephen’s god daughter.
“The current owner is a direct descendant who has always known it as being ‘Aunt Gian’s (Lady Mount Stephen) Hope spinel,’” Barber said.
The Hope Spinel’s origins are from the Kuh-i-Lal mines, in Tajikistan, according to the Swiss gemological laboratory, SSEF.
“The mines are geographically difficult to get to and politically in the 20th century weren’t being used,” Barber said. “That makes spinels like these exceptionally rare even without the provenance of the Hope Spinel.”
A spinel is a gemstone sometimes confused with ruby because they’re found in the same rock formations, are chemically similar and often have a pinkish-red coloring. But very large specimens are often more transparent and have fewer inclusions than ruby.
The gem is set within decorative old brilliant and rose-cut diamond claws, framed by larger old brilliant-cut diamonds (total diamond weight 6.50 carats), mounted in silver and gold and worn as a brooch/pendant with detachable fittings. There’s a handwritten note in the case describing it as a spinel-ruby from the Hope Collection.
