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AUCTION

Liszt letters to be auctioned in Geneva

A collection of 14 letters written by 19th-century Hungarian composer Franz Liszt go under the hammer in Geneva this week, shedding light on his ties with his musical peers and his ire at cultural ignorance.

Published: 11 March 2013 07:32 CET
Liszt letters to be auctioned in Geneva
Image: Hôtel des Ventes

The letters, put on public display on Friday at the Hôtel des Ventes auction house, are to be sold on Wednesday.

In the manuscripts, Liszt wrote of his friendship with German counterpart Richard Wagner and Franco-Polish romantic icon Frédéric Chopin, to whom he dedicated three musical scores.

He also criticizes certain sections of his era's public for failing to appreciate his work.

Also up for sale is an eight-page, handwritten booklet of piano exercises composed by Liszt for his pupil Valérie Boissier in 1832.

The auctioneers' estimated minimum value for the Liszt lots is 9,750 francs  $10,300), with the booklet alone starting at 3,000 francs.

The lots are part of a broader sale of musicology items, including manuscripts, scores and photographs related to Bela Bartok, Paul Dukas, Nikita Magaloff, Igor Stravinsky, Joseph Szigeti, and Wagner.

The items up for sale are from two private collections.
   
One is from the family of Szigeti and Magaloff, who was his son-in-law, while the other was put together by Genevan musicologist Robert Bory.

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DIAMOND

Rare pink diamond to go under hammer in Geneva

An extremely rare pink diamond will be auctioned in Geneva on November 11 by Sotheby's, which says it is worth between $23 and $38 million.

Published: 8 November 2020 12:54 CET
Rare pink diamond to go under hammer in Geneva
A model poses with the “The Spirit of the Rose” diamond during a press preview on Friday. Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP
Named “The Spirit of the Rose” after a famous Russian ballet, the 14.83-carat diamond mined in Russia is the biggest ever to go under the hammer in its category — “fancy vivid purple-pink”.
 
The occurrence of pink diamonds in nature is extremely rare in any size,” Gary Schuler, head of Sotheby's jewellery division, said in a statement. “Only one per cent of all pink diamonds are larger than 10-carats.”
   
Speaking to AFP, Benoit Repellin, head of fine jewellery auctions at Sotheby's Geneva, said the oval-shaped diamond was “completely pure.”
 
 
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The rough diamond was unearthed by Russia's Alrosa — one of the world's leading diamond producers — in the Republic of Sakha in the northeast of the country in July 2017.
   
Repellin said it took a painstaking year for cutting masters to turn the diamond into its polished form.
   
Sotheby's said the world auction record for a diamond and any gemstone or jewel was the “CTF Pink Star”, a 59.60-carat oval pink diamond that sold for $71.2 million in Hong Kong in 2017.
   
According to Repellin, five out of the 10 most valuable diamonds ever sold at auction were pink.
   
The sale of this gem coincides with the closure of the world's largest pink diamond mine in Australia after it exhausted its reserves of the precious stones.
   
The Argyle mine, in the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia, churned out more than 90 percent of the world's pink diamonds.
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