ALL THAT GLITTERS Christie’s auction house appraiser David Warren closely examines a neckpiece from the Roumeliotes collection, one of a three-set jewelry collection seized from the Marcoses after the family fled to Hawaii following the Edsa People Power Revolution in 1986. The government has asked Christie’s and its rival, Sotheby’s, to appraise some 700 pieces of Marcos jewelry for a possible auction after being kept for almost 30 years in a Central Bank vault. EDWIN BACASMAS
JUST when the public thought it knew all there was to know about the Marcos jewelry collections, jewelers from an auction house on Tuesday discovered an “extremely rare” pink diamond believed to be previously owned by a Mogul emperor and worth at least P235 million ($5 million).
READ: Marcos jewelry being appraised ahead of possible auction
Jewelers from Christie’s auction house who are currently conducting an appraisal of the jewelry collections seized from the family of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986 following the Edsa People Power Revolution, described the briolette-cut barrel-shaped pink diamond as an “extremely exciting find” that would “make your knees shake” because of its beauty.
David Warren, Christie’s head of jewelry in the Middle East, said the diamond was probably overlooked and hence not appraised in 1991 since it was only listed as a “loose crystal.”
Only three pure, vivid pink diamonds of more than 10 carats have appeared for sale in almost 250 years of auction history, according to the Christie’s jeweler.
The “phenomenally rare” 25-karat pink diamond, measuring barely an inch and possibly cut during the 18th century, came from India’s Golconda mine that produced the Hope Diamond and Agra Diamond, among
others, Warren said, adding that the gem could have been worn by a Mogul emperor as a turban ornament.
The government asked Christie’s and rival Sotheby’s to appraise the three sets of jewelry so it could decide whether to sell them or exhibit them in a museum.
Wants closure
“It has been in our custody for almost 30 years. We want to [have] closure and let the Filipino people benefit from the jewelry,” said Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) Commissioner on Research and Development Andrew de Castro.
Proceeds from the sale would go to the government’s agrarian reform program.
Warren said the pink diamond would significantly increase the value of the entire collection originally valued in 1991 between $6 million and $8 million (P282 million and P376 million). That the jewels were once owned by Imelda Marcos would also add value to them since “provenance is extremely important … and can radically change the value of an item.”
Asked if the jewels being ill-gotten would also be a factor, Warren simply said, “provenance is provenance.”
He added: “We let the buyers decide what they feel about that… There will always be people fascinated by the provenance [of an item] whatever that provenance is.”
Warren said the jewelry collection was comparable to those owned by royalty. “If I didn’t know where the collection came from, I would probably say it could have come from… a princess.”
700 pieces
The five-day appraisal of the more than 700 pieces of jewelry from the Marcoses was being facilitated by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and the PCGG as part of the memorandum of understanding they signed last month to undertake a physical inventory, appraisal and eventually an auction of the jewelry collection.
Sotheby’s will appraise the collection on Thursday.
Since the jewelry pieces were seized in 1986, they have remained under tight guard at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas vault in Manila. The PCGG serves as the custodian for the Hawaii collection, composed of around 300 jewelry pieces seized by the US customs bureau in Hawaii, while the BOC and the Palace are the custodians for the Roumeliotes and Malacañang collections, respectively.
The Malacañang collection has over 400 pieces of jewelry left behind in the Palace by the Marcos family as they fled the country in 1986. On the other hand, the Roumeliotes collection was seized from Greek businessman Demetriou Roumeliotes who attempted to smuggle out of the country a week after the Edsa People Power Revolution at least 60 jewelry pieces, in violation of the Tariff and Customs Code.
Roumeliotes was allegedly a crony of the late dictator.
To date, only the Malacañang collection’s ownership remains in dispute. The Sandiganbayan ruled last year that this particular collection, being ill-gotten, belongs to the government. However, Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos had appealed the ruling in the Supreme Court.
Manifestation of corruption
The Supreme Court ruled in 1994 that the Roumeliotes collection belonged to the BOC since it was seized under the Tariff and Customs Code. For the Hawaii collection, the former first lady surrendered to the government all rights and interests to the jewelry pieces under a settlement agreement in the US District Court of Hawaii.
Castro said the jewelry collections should serve as a “good physical manifestation of the corruption” that happened during the Marcos regime.
“It’s something that (the youth) can see. They would have to ask themselves where it came from. Can a government official afford this with his salary?” Castro asked.
But the PCGG official noted that plans for the appraisal of the collections were firmed up even before Sen. Bongbong Marcos’ vice presidential bid created a buzz about martial law on social media.
Castro said the results of the appraisal of the two auction houses were expected to be available by next week.
The three jewelry collections were among the assets said to be ill-gotten by Marcos who was the country’s President for nearly two decades before he was ousted in a civilian-backed military uprising in 1986. He was accused of amassing more than $10 billion while in office, among them paintings by such masters as Monet, Picasso and Van Gogh.
Some 750 pieces from the three jewelry collections were shown to the media on Tuesday, and included Burmese rubies, Indian and South African diamonds and Colombian emeralds. With reports from the wires