ModernJeweler.com |

A recent Christie’s auction in Dubai, which sold a total of $20 million in jewelry and watches, included several important pearl lots, setting several records. The top lot was a superb natural pearl and diamond necklace which sold for $1,743,400, the highest price for an item sold by Christie’s in the Middle East. A natural pearl necklace owned by the most prominent Arab singer of the 20th century, Umm Kulthum (1904-1975) sold for $1.4 million, more than ten times its pre-sale estimate. In total, sales at the auction included $6 million in natural pearls. A rare yellow to pinkish-orange natural pearl weighing 241 grains (60.36 carats), labeled the second largest freshwater pearl ever recorded, sold for $713,000, a world record price for a freshwater pearl.