Bulgari Impressive pair of Fancy Intense Yellow diamond, emerald and...
Each designed as a tapered articulated panel, collet-set with a step-cut fancy intense yellow diamond weighing 9.85 and 9.70 carats respectively, featuring a step-cut emerald, enhanced with baguette, bullet- and fancy-shaped diamonds, post and hinged back fittings, signed Bulgari, maker’s marks for Bulgari, case stamped Bulgari.
Accompanied by GIA reports no. 6237200974 and no. 6237200981, dated 1 March 2024, stating that the diamonds are Fancy Intense Yellow, Natural Colour, VVS2 and SI1 Clarity respectively; together with SSEF report no. 136506, dated 1 March 2024, stating that the emeralds are of Colombian origin, with a minor amount of oil in fissures.
Condition Report:
Accompanied by GIA report no. 6237200974, dated 1 March 2024, stating that the step-cut diamond weighing 9.85 carats, measuring 15.65 x 11.65 x 6.45mm, is Fancy Intense Yellow Colour, VVS2 Clarity;
report no. 6237200981, dated 1 March 2024, stating that the step-cut diamond weighing 9.70 carats, measuring 16.07 x 11.56 x 6.35mm, is Fancy Intense Yellow, Natural Colour, SI1 Clarity;
together with GIA reports no. 11223549 and no. 11223546, dated 25 October 2001, stating that the step-cut diamonds weighing 9.85 and 9.70 carats, measuring 15.97 x 11.44 x 6.38 and 15.60 x 11.64 x 6.47mm, are Fancy Intense Yellow, Natural Colour, VVS2 and VS1 Clarity respectively;
SSEF report no. 136506, dated 11 March 2024, stating that the step-cut emeralds, measuring approximately 13.40 x 7.50 x 3.00mm and 13.50 x 7.50 x 3.20mm, are of Colombian origin, with a minor amount of oil in fissures.
When this pair of pendent earrings was sold in 2000, a sale room notice read that they were designed by Donald Claflin for Bulgari in 1979.
Signed BVLGARI, maker’s marks for Bulgari. Stamped 18K and 750 for 18 carat gold. Emeralds estimated to weigh a total of approximately 4.50 - 5.50 carats, very slightly bluish green of strong saturation, very crystalline, slightly included, some surface reaching inclusions, minor reflective inclusions, chips, nicks and abrasions to the facet junctions. Remaining diamonds estimated to weigh a total of approximately 4.00 - 5.00 carats, on average G-H colour, VS clarity, as gauged and graded in the mount. Scratches to the metal consistent with age and wear. In good condition. Panels with good articulation. Measuring approximately 55 x 12mm. Total gross weight approximately 36 grams. Accompanied by a case stamped BVLGARI.
Catalogue Note:
Baron and Baroness di Portanova
‘The best things in life are sun, sex and spaghetti!’
Enrico di Portanova
Enrico ‘Ricky’ and Alessandra di Portanova were a highly glamorous jet-set couple who filled the society pages and gossip columns of the 1970s and 80s with their extravagant lifestyle. They lavishly entertained the glitterati of the period in their magnificent residences in River Oaks Houston, Palm Springs, Rome and Acapulco. Their legendary 32 bedroom villa ‘Arabesque’ in Acapulco was immortalised in the James Bond Movie ‘License to Kill’ (1989) where it served as the over-the-top lair of a Bond villain. The villa was complete with 26 bathrooms, 2 indoor waterfalls and a funicular connecting the house to its private beach.
For all their glamour and opulent living, the origins and extent of the di Portanova fortune always remained something of a mystery. Enrico di Portanova was the grandson of the Texan oil tycoon Hugh Roy Cullen, founder of the Quintana Petroleum Company whom the press dubbed ‘the King of the Wildcatters’. In 1932, much against his wishes, his daughter Lillie Cranz Cullen fell in love with and married an Italian playboy called Paolo who styled himself as a Baron. Though Lillie was never disinherited, her relationship with her father always remained strained. Lillie raised her sons Enrico and Ugo between Los Angeles and Rome. In his youth Enrico di Portanova briefly ran a jewellery store in Rome.
In 1957, Hugh Roy Cullen passed away. Enrico and his brother both received a monthly annuity of 5,000 USD. Though this allowed him to live well, Enrico suspected that this stipend was only the tip of the iceberg. In 1963, he relocated to Houston on a mission to get full accounting from the estate and to claim what he considered his fair share of his grandfather’s immense fortune. He embarked on a decades-long legal battle with the support of his business partner, stockbroker Edward Condon. Together they increased the proceeds from the estate through shrewd investments.
The Baron divorced his first wife, Yugoslavian-born Ljuba Otasevic in 1972. Shortly thereafter, he married the Houston-born Sandy Hovas. He introduced Sandy to society, gave her a glamorous make-over complete with mouth-watering jewels and set out to change her name. Gradually she morphed from Sandy to Sandra to Sondra and finally settled on the more sophisticated sounding Alessandra. The couple established themselves as a fixture of international high society, travelling between their various homes on their...
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Each designed as a tapered articulated panel, collet-set with a step-cut fancy intense yellow diamond weighing 9.85 and 9.70 carats respectively, featuring a step-cut emerald, enhanced with baguette, bullet- and fancy-shaped diamonds, post and hinged back fittings, signed Bulgari, maker’s marks for Bulgari, case stamped Bulgari.
Accompanied by GIA reports no. 6237200974 and no. 6237200981, dated 1 March 2024, stating that the diamonds are Fancy Intense Yellow, Natural Colour, VVS2 and SI1 Clarity respectively; together with SSEF report no. 136506, dated 1 March 2024, stating that the emeralds are of Colombian origin, with a minor amount of oil in fissures.
Condition Report:
Accompanied by GIA report no. 6237200974, dated 1 March 2024, stating that the step-cut diamond weighing 9.85 carats, measuring 15.65 x 11.65 x 6.45mm, is Fancy Intense Yellow Colour, VVS2 Clarity;
report no. 6237200981, dated 1 March 2024, stating that the step-cut diamond weighing 9.70 carats, measuring 16.07 x 11.56 x 6.35mm, is Fancy Intense Yellow, Natural Colour, SI1 Clarity;
together with GIA reports no. 11223549 and no. 11223546, dated 25 October 2001, stating that the step-cut diamonds weighing 9.85 and 9.70 carats, measuring 15.97 x 11.44 x 6.38 and 15.60 x 11.64 x 6.47mm, are Fancy Intense Yellow, Natural Colour, VVS2 and VS1 Clarity respectively;
SSEF report no. 136506, dated 11 March 2024, stating that the step-cut emeralds, measuring approximately 13.40 x 7.50 x 3.00mm and 13.50 x 7.50 x 3.20mm, are of Colombian origin, with a minor amount of oil in fissures.
When this pair of pendent earrings was sold in 2000, a sale room notice read that they were designed by Donald Claflin for Bulgari in 1979.
Signed BVLGARI, maker’s marks for Bulgari. Stamped 18K and 750 for 18 carat gold. Emeralds estimated to weigh a total of approximately 4.50 - 5.50 carats, very slightly bluish green of strong saturation, very crystalline, slightly included, some surface reaching inclusions, minor reflective inclusions, chips, nicks and abrasions to the facet junctions. Remaining diamonds estimated to weigh a total of approximately 4.00 - 5.00 carats, on average G-H colour, VS clarity, as gauged and graded in the mount. Scratches to the metal consistent with age and wear. In good condition. Panels with good articulation. Measuring approximately 55 x 12mm. Total gross weight approximately 36 grams. Accompanied by a case stamped BVLGARI.
Catalogue Note:
Baron and Baroness di Portanova
‘The best things in life are sun, sex and spaghetti!’
Enrico di Portanova
Enrico ‘Ricky’ and Alessandra di Portanova were a highly glamorous jet-set couple who filled the society pages and gossip columns of the 1970s and 80s with their extravagant lifestyle. They lavishly entertained the glitterati of the period in their magnificent residences in River Oaks Houston, Palm Springs, Rome and Acapulco. Their legendary 32 bedroom villa ‘Arabesque’ in Acapulco was immortalised in the James Bond Movie ‘License to Kill’ (1989) where it served as the over-the-top lair of a Bond villain. The villa was complete with 26 bathrooms, 2 indoor waterfalls and a funicular connecting the house to its private beach.
For all their glamour and opulent living, the origins and extent of the di Portanova fortune always remained something of a mystery. Enrico di Portanova was the grandson of the Texan oil tycoon Hugh Roy Cullen, founder of the Quintana Petroleum Company whom the press dubbed ‘the King of the Wildcatters’. In 1932, much against his wishes, his daughter Lillie Cranz Cullen fell in love with and married an Italian playboy called Paolo who styled himself as a Baron. Though Lillie was never disinherited, her relationship with her father always remained strained. Lillie raised her sons Enrico and Ugo between Los Angeles and Rome. In his youth Enrico di Portanova briefly ran a jewellery store in Rome.
In 1957, Hugh Roy Cullen passed away. Enrico and his brother both received a monthly annuity of 5,000 USD. Though this allowed him to live well, Enrico suspected that this stipend was only the tip of the iceberg. In 1963, he relocated to Houston on a mission to get full accounting from the estate and to claim what he considered his fair share of his grandfather’s immense fortune. He embarked on a decades-long legal battle with the support of his business partner, stockbroker Edward Condon. Together they increased the proceeds from the estate through shrewd investments.
The Baron divorced his first wife, Yugoslavian-born Ljuba Otasevic in 1972. Shortly thereafter, he married the Houston-born Sandy Hovas. He introduced Sandy to society, gave her a glamorous make-over complete with mouth-watering jewels and set out to change her name. Gradually she morphed from Sandy to Sandra to Sondra and finally settled on the more sophisticated sounding Alessandra. The couple established themselves as a fixture of international high society, travelling between their various homes on their...
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Estimate
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