Looking for a Silver Lining

The art auction house Saffronart hopes that downturn or not,there will always be a market for fine jewels. With its spring online auction of fine jewels coming up on April 15 and 16,president and co-founder Minal Vazirani has reasons to be insanely optimistic. “If a piece has an important history or provenance,it’s simply priceless,” he says.

Those are brave words in a world staring at the R-word,but Vazirani has shrewdly taken into account the financial reality. This time they are “auctioning slightly low-end pieces”,compared with their October auction. “The market is slightly depressed. That is partly why we have items at different price points,” he says. “We’re working towards a format where we’ll have biannual jewellery auctions with opulent pieces being sold in October and slightly lower-end pieces sold in April. With this,we hope to woo seasoned collectors as well as first-timers.” The jewellery up for auction includes a magnificent diamond-and-emerald necklace with a 12-carat Colombian diamond pendant (left,in the picture).

Another piece is a five-strand pearl necklace “with 801 gently graduated natural pearls”.

Saffronart is expecting a good response to the auction. “People are increasingly looking at jewellery as works of art,” says Vazirani,“Besides,our October auction saw many bidders and this,mind you,was just days after the global financial crash began.”