Thursday, 19th January 2006 (3917 views)

Jewellery dealers will be flocking to St. Moritz in Switzerland this Valentine's Day to be a part of Sotheby's annual auction.

The auction house will be celebrating its 30th anniversary in the town this year, with coloured gemstones and diamond jewellery from the likes of Sterle and Cartier among the items going under the hammer.

2006 is also the 150th anniversary of the Kulm, the hotel in which the auction takes place, making it an even more significant year for the auction.

Despite initial fears that St. Moritz would be too remote a location to draw in top dealers, the event has gone from strength to strength since its debut in 1976.

"The annual auction became a firm fixture in the social calendar, and as more and more people combined their skiing holidays in this exciting resort with the auction and its stunning exhibition, its popularity snowballed," commented Sotheby's David Bennett.

Dealers can expect some high-value items to be up for auction if previous years are anything to go by.

A 20.62 pink diamond went for $5.5 million in 1990 while a D-colour gem weighing 41.37 carats fetched $4.2 million in 1988, according to the National Jeweller.

 

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