Christie’s New York opens its Magnificent Jewels live auction at Rockefeller Plaza on Wednesday, June 11, 2026, with the saleroom doors swinging on a single stone that is going to set the price ceiling for pink diamonds in the second half of the decade: the Eden Rose, a 10.2-carat fancy intense pink diamond carrying a $9–$12 million estimate. For New York Loan clients, this is the second half of a back-to-back jewelry test week. Sotheby’s Luxury Week Magnificent Jewels — anchored by the 73-carat Glenn Spiro yellow and the 25-carat Kashmir sapphire — clears the block on June 9. Christie’s opens 48 hours later. The two sales, read together, will recalibrate everything from Diamond District wholesale on important colored stones to short-term lending values on signed pieces from Bulgari, Cartier, Tiffany, and Van Cleef.
The viewing schedule runs June 6 through June 10 at Christie’s New York, with an online companion sale, Jewels Online, running June 4 through June 13. Public access to the exhibition is open and unticketed during business hours — the strongest lots will be in vault cases on the upper floor. For collectors and clients who use this Friday post as a planning document: block the Tuesday June 9 afternoon for Christie’s viewing, since that day frees up after the Sotheby’s hammer falls and gives you a clean read on pricing momentum before the Wednesday morning sale.
The Eden Rose — and why the pink diamond market is on hold for it
Pink diamonds have been the most tightly held colored-diamond category since the Argyle mine in Western Australia closed in November 2020. Supply of new fancy-intense and fancy-vivid pink material effectively stopped. The Pink Star ($71.2 million, Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 2017) and the CTF Pink Star reset the upper register. The 11.15-carat Williamson Pink Star pushed per-carat pricing into Argyle-replacement territory in 2022. Since then, supply at the 10-carat-plus level has been almost entirely from private hands, and almost everything that has crossed the public block has had visible flaws or unmodified cuts that depressed price.
The Eden Rose, by every preview indication available so far, is none of those things. A 10.2-carat fancy intense pink at the $9–$12 million estimate puts the per-carat midpoint between roughly $885,000 and $1.18 million. That is well below the Williamson Pink Star and well below the Argyle Tiara, but it is meaningfully above the 2024–2025 average for fancy intense pinks in this carat band. If the Eden Rose clears the low estimate, the Diamond District wholesale floor on important pinks holds. If it clears the high estimate, the floor moves up. If it fails to sell — which is the scenario almost nobody is publicly modeling but which has happened to two important pinks in the last 18 months — the message to the market is that the $1-million-per-carat tape is now resistance rather than support.
The Sunny von Bülow collection
The second narrative in this sale is the curated collection: Beauty in Design: Magnificent Jewelry From the Collection of Sunny Crawford von Bülow and Ala von Auersperg Isham. Sunny von Bülow’s name still moves at auction. The von Bülow collection, descending now through her daughter Ala von Auersperg Isham, contains signed pieces from the houses that define mid-century New York and European jewelry: Van Cleef & Arpels, Cartier, Bulgari, Tiffany & Co.
A few lots to watch in particular:
The carved emerald, ruby, and diamond necklace by Van Cleef & Arpels, estimated $200,000–$300,000. Carved-emerald Van Cleef pieces with strong color saturation and original mounts have been trading 15–25 percent above estimate when they appear, and Sunny von Bülow provenance compounds that.
The signed Cartier and Bulgari pieces in the same consignment. Sunny von Bülow’s Cartier was the period that still matters most — late 1960s through 1980s — and those pieces carry both the production-period mark and the named-collection narrative. That is a stack of premium triggers that most New York consignments cannot match.
What this means for the Diamond District and for short-term lending
New York Loan watches these two June auctions as live calibration events. The numbers that come out of Sotheby’s on June 9 and Christie’s on June 11 directly inform our internal valuation tables for the back half of the year on three categories: important colored diamonds in the 5-carat-plus range, signed pieces from the four houses (Cartier, Van Cleef, Bulgari, Tiffany), and important colored stones — particularly Kashmir sapphires and Burma rubies — with named-collection provenance.
For Diamond District wholesalers, the more interesting test inside the Christie’s sale is the depth of the catalog beyond the Eden Rose. A Magnificent Jewels sale that clears 85 percent or better on lots below the top three by estimate is the signal that retail and wholesale demand are both healthy at the working layer of the business. A sale that clears the top three but stalls at the middle is the signal that the top of the market is being held up by a small handful of buyers and the working floor is thinner than it looks. Our underwriting moves accordingly.
For clients sitting on signed pieces — particularly anything from the Bulgari Bulgari era, the Cartier Panthère series, or any Van Cleef Alhambra in long chain — June 9 through June 13 is the cleanest week of the year to either consign forward to a fall sale or borrow against the piece at current market. Our office will be tracking both auctions in real time.
Practical details
Christie’s New York, 20 Rockefeller Plaza. Live auction Wednesday, June 11, 2026. Exhibition open to the public June 6 through June 10. Jewels Online runs concurrently June 4 through June 13. Catalog available digitally at christies.com. Bidders new to Christie’s must register in advance with deposit; existing clients can bid by phone, online via Christie’s Live, or in person. The room on a major Magnificent Jewels day is one of the more interesting tickets in New York and well worth the visit even if you are not bidding.
For asset-backed lending against jewelry in advance of, during, or after the June auctions, New York Loan’s appraisal team is available by appointment at our Diamond District office. Same-day evaluation is available on important signed pieces, important colored stones, and colored-diamond inventory at the 1-carat-plus level.
Frequently asked questions
When is Christie’s New York Magnificent Jewels auction?
Wednesday, June 11, 2026, at Christie’s New York, 20 Rockefeller Plaza. A companion online sale, Jewels Online, runs June 4 through June 13.
What is the headline lot in the June 11 Christie’s Magnificent Jewels sale?
The Eden Rose, a 10.2-carat fancy intense pink diamond with a presale estimate of $9 million to $12 million.
Whose collection is featured in the curated section?
The sale includes Beauty in Design: Magnificent Jewelry From the Collection of Sunny Crawford von Bülow and Ala von Auersperg Isham, with signed pieces by Van Cleef & Arpels, Cartier, Bulgari, and Tiffany & Co.
How does this sale compare to Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels on June 9?
The two sales fall 48 hours apart and together constitute the second-quarter calibration event for the New York jewelry market. Sotheby’s leads with a 73.11-carat fancy vivid yellow diamond and a 25.29-carat Kashmir sapphire; Christie’s leads with the Eden Rose pink and the Sunny von Bülow curated section.
Can I view the lots in person?
Yes. Public exhibition runs June 6 through June 10 at Christie’s New York, 20 Rockefeller Plaza, during gallery hours.
