A gem-set, diamond and enamel brooch, Cartier, circa 1925, designed as a coral and onyx bead fan motif, suspending a rock crystal ring, enhanced by circular-cut diamonds;signed Cartier; estimated total diamond weight: 3.50 carats; mounted in platinum; length: 2 1/4in. Sold for US$ 317,000 (€229,660). Photo Bonhams.

New York  – Bonhams auction of Fine Jewellery held in the firm's Madison Avenue salesrooms on April 9 was an overwhelming success, realising $4.3 million.

Highlighting the auction was a Cartier gem-set, diamond and enamel brooch, circa 1925, that flew past its pre-sale estimate to bring $317,000. The signed piece, from the Estate of Patricia Mitau Rhein, is designed as a coral and onyx bead fan motif, suspending a rock crystal ring, enhanced by 3.50 carats of circular-cut diamonds, mounted in platinum. An additional art deco Kashmir sapphire and diamond brooch, also circa 1925, from the various owners portion of the auction, brought $137,000.

The 185-lot sale was highly energetic, with a filled to capacity auction room and registrants bidding online and by telephone from over 20 countries worldwide. Susan Abeles, Bonhams Head of US Jewellery, and Virginia Salem, the Director of the Jewellery Department in New York, commented of the sale, "Rare pristine signed jewellery and fine coloured stones continues to command significant interest and results. The market is very strong, and participation increases with every auction."

Especially notable in the sale was a fine jadeite jade bracelet, designed as a carved hololith bangle, that brought $209,000 against an estimate of $40,000-60,000, and a natural pearl and diamond necklace, comprising of 71 graduated round white pearls, completed by an openwork single-cut diamond clasp, and centering an old mine-cut diamond, with its clasp mounted in platinum, that achieved $173,000, past a $30,000-50,000 estimate.

Diamond rings were in high demand for the day. A Kashmir sapphire and diamond ring of bypass design, centering a 3.45 carat oval-cut sapphire and a 3.24 carat old European-cut diamond, with baguette-cut diamond shoulders, mounted in platinum, brought $191,000 past an $80,000-120,000 estimate. Another diamond ring, set with a 17.86 carat cut-cornered rectangular-cut diamond, sold for $173,000.

Additional examples of note included a diamond solitaire ring, set with a 6.02 cushion-cut diamond, mounted in platinum, that brought $131,000, past an estimate of $50,000-80,000; a fancy coloured diamond and diamond ring, set with an 8.43 carat round brilliant-cut fancy light yellow diamond, with circular-cut diamond shoulders, that sold for $120,000; and also, from a Charleston Estate, a sapphire, diamond and 18 karat gold ring, horizontally set with a 7.60 carat oval-cut sapphire, with triangular-cut diamond shoulders within a polished gold mount, with an estimated total diamond weight of 1.00 carat, that realised $ 106,250.

A diamond solitaire ring set with a cushion-cut diamond, weighing 6.02 carats;mounted in platinum; size 5. Sold for US$ 131,000 (€94,906). Photo Bonhams.