Phillips Geneva Jewels Auction VII: Blue Diamond, Kashmir Sapphire

What Phillips Has Announced

• House: Phillips
• Sale: The Geneva Jewels Auction: VII, as announced in Phillips' press release of 1 October 2026
• City and venue: Geneva, at the Hôtel Président, Quai Wilson 47, according to the sale's overview page
• Date: 9 November 2026, beginning at 3pm CET, with viewing from 4 to 9 November 2026 (Phillips sale page)
• Lot: Fancy Vivid Blue diamond ring
  • Stone: a 1.35-carat brilliant-cut diamond, color graded Fancy Vivid Blue, which Phillips calls "remarkable and rare"
  • Origin, treatment and laboratory: not stated in Phillips' announcement
  • Estimate: USD 2,200,000 to 3,500,000 (press release); CHF1,800,000 to 2,860,000 (sale page)
  • Result: to come
• Lot: Sapphire and diamond ring, described in the press release as a "very fine" sapphire and diamond ring
  • Stone: a 16.40-carat sapphire, "Kashmir, no heat", according to Phillips' press release
  • Laboratories: offered "with SSEF and Gübelin appendix letters", according to the sale page
  • Estimate: USD 2,200,000 to 3,500,000 (press release); CHF1,800,000 to 2,860,000 (sale page)
  • Result: to come

What Fancy Vivid Means for a Blue Diamond

Colorless diamonds are graded on a letter scale, and most of that scale is about how little color a stone shows. Our guide to which color grades look white explains where the eye stops seeing a difference.

Colored diamonds are described differently. Their grade is a phrase: one or more words that describe how the color appears, followed by the hue. This sale shows how varied those phrases are. Phillips' press release lists a "Fancy Intense Green-Blue" diamond, a "Fancy Deep Purplish Pink", a "Fancy Dark Grey-Violet" and a "Fancy Vivid Yellow" among its colored diamonds, and an Old mine cut described as "Faint Pinkish Brown according to GGTL".

Read that way, "Fancy Vivid Blue" tells you two things:

• Blue is the named hue, with no modifying hue in Phillips' description. A designation such as "Green-Blue" names another hue too.
• Vivid is part of the color designation Phillips gives the diamond. Phillips doesn't set out the grading criteria behind it; it calls the diamond "remarkable and rare" and its color "exceptional", and leads the sale with it.

The same kind of phrase appears on the reports for the stones in our colored diamonds, lab-grown and natural: every diamond we sell comes with a GIA or IGI grading report, which states its color in the laboratory's own words. For another colored-diamond auction example, see our related article.

Why "Kashmir, No Heat" Matters for the Sapphire

Phillips describes the sapphire as "Kashmir, no heat" and lists SSEF and Gübelin appendix letters. Its announcement doesn't reproduce the laboratories' wording, so here is what each half of that phrase refers to.

Origin. "Kashmir" is a statement of geographic origin, and origin is a laboratory's opinion rather than a grade. Not every report gives one: GIA says its Gemological Identification Reports will, at the client's request, issue an opinion on geographic origin, when possible. GIA also notes that every mine produces a wide range of quality, and that Myanmar (Burma), Sri Lanka and Madagascar produce top-quality gems too.

Treatment. "No heat" is about treatment. As GIA puts it, a large amount of the sapphire on the market has been treated to alter its color by heat or by lattice diffusion. GIA's identification reports indicate detectable treatments, and GIA says that for fine-quality sapphire, independent confirmation that there is no evidence of heat adds to a sapphire's rarity.

That line is worth keeping in mind. A heated sapphire is not a lesser kind of sapphire. Heating is common and accepted, and a good report states it plainly. For fine-quality sapphire, GIA says independent confirmation of no evidence of heating adds to its rarity; ask to see the letters for their exact origin and treatment findings.

The appendix letters. Phillips lists SSEF and Gübelin appendix letters but does not reproduce their wording in the supplied overview. A bidder can read the full lot page and ask Phillips' specialists for the documents.

What the Laboratory Report Does and Doesn't Grade

People often assume a sapphire gets a color grade the way a diamond does. GIA says it doesn't grade or provide quality analysis for sapphire or other colored stones. Its identification report records the weight, measurements, shape, cutting style and color, determines whether the stone is natural or lab-grown, and indicates detectable treatments.

So the two lots are documented in different ways:

• The diamond is described by Phillips as "Fancy Vivid Blue"; the supplied sale information does not identify its grading laboratory.
• The sapphire is described by Phillips as "Kashmir, no heat"; its sale page lists SSEF and Gübelin appendix letters, but the supplied sources do not reproduce their findings.

Our guide to where diamond grading reports come from covers how GIA and IGI reports are produced for diamonds.

Estimates and the Buyer's Premium

An estimate is the auction house's own guide to where it expects bidding to land in that sale. It is not an independent appraisal or a promise of the sale price. Phillips' press release states that estimates do not include buyer's premium; prices achieved include the hammer price plus buyer's premium.

As listed on Phillips' sale overview on 2 November 2026, the buyer's premium is calculated on the hammer price on a cumulative basis:

• 27% of the hammer price up to and including CHF1,600,000
• 21% of the portion above CHF1,600,000, up to and including CHF7,000,000
• 14.5% of the portion above CHF7,000,000

Those rates are as listed on Phillips' sale page, which links to the full Conditions of Sale and advertises a lower premium through priority bidding.

That means an estimate and a published result aren't measured the same way. The estimate is a range for the hammer price alone; the price achieved adds the premium on top. Because Phillips says its prices achieved include the buyer's premium, a price achieved above the high estimate could include a hammer price within the estimate.

Diamonds are not investments. Neither the estimates nor this article predict what either stone will fetch.

How the Stones We Sell Compare

These are exceptional auction lots, and we have no connection with the sale. Our colored-diamond page lets you look for blue diamonds if listed, and our blue-sapphire page lets you compare available sapphires, including smaller sizes where listed - not stones of the same rarity.

Blue in a diamond. Our colored diamonds are where to look for a diamond with color, each with its GIA or IGI report. Where a lab-grown diamond and a natural one show the color the same way to your eye, we'd point you to the lab-grown diamond. It usually costs less than a comparable natural stone, and the difference stays in your pocket. Our guide to reading a GIA or IGI report shows what to check.

Blue in a sapphire. If it's a deep blue you love, browse our blue sapphires, loose and certified, or the wider range of loose natural sapphires. Every gemstone we sell comes with a report from a gemological laboratory: GIA, AGL, GRS, Gübelin, SSEF or IGI. Read each stone's report for its treatment findings. We sell natural sapphires only, not lab-grown gemstones.

A few honest pointers:

• Choose by the color you see. As GIA notes, heating is an accepted treatment. If a heated sapphire looks the same to you as an unheated one, the heated stone is a perfectly sound choice.
• Size changes everything. You don't need 16 carats to enjoy a blue stone's color; compare smaller stones in different lighting.
• Loose means flexible. We sell stones loose; any jeweler you trust can tell you whether they can set the one you choose.

You don't need an auction-house estimate to wear a strong, honest blue: you need a stone whose report you've read and a color you like.