DRUG DEALER'S JEWELS NET $2 MILLION AT AUCTION

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- A sale of diamonds confiscated from an admitted
multimillionaire marijuana smuggler fetched a total of $1.9 million at a
two-day auction at Christie's, nearly four times the pre-sale estimate.

``The outstanding combination of elements in today's sale was responsible
for this extremely successful auction,'' said Simon Teake, senior vice
president and head of Christie's jewelry department for North and South
America.

``With a market such as this, the market shows itself to be buoyant, with
encouraging depth,'' he said.

Among highlights of the auction's three sessions were a rectangular-cut
9.12 carat yellow diamond and a pear-shaped 51.04 carat one, each of which
sold for $1,652,500, falling within the expected price of $1.5 to $2
million.

The yellow diamond was bought by London jeweler Laurence Graff, who also
paid $475,500 for a rectangular-cut 18.97 single stone diamond ring.

Christie's had estimated the collection would fetch between $400,000 and
$500,000, but the total for the sale which concluded on Tuesday evening was
$1.9 million.

The gems ranged in size from a 1/4 carat to three carats and their cuts
included rectangular, oval, marquis, circular and heart-shaped. Some were
nearly colorless but there was a rare blue diamond which sold for $684,500.

In 1995 the United States Customs Service confiscated 33 dazzling diamonds
from a marijuana smuggler who lived a life of luxury before agents arrested
him in the ungracious confines of a Florida trailer home park.

``This is a story that reads like a James Bond novel,'' Raymond Kelly, U.S.
Under Secretary of the Treasury for Enforcement said last week.

``It involved drug-trafficking, secret bank accounts in Switzerland,
multiple false passports, international communications and a `never say
never' investigative attitude.''

Kelly, a former New York City police commissioner who is soon to be
nominated as U.S. Customs Commissioner, said the proceeds would be used to
fight drug-related crimes.

``Purchasers of these gems will not only be owning exquisite jewels but
they'll be active participants in our war against drugs on the streets of
America,'' Kelly said.

The former owner of the diamond collection was Stephen Jenks, who was
arrested in 1994 and pleaded guilty to running a marijuana smuggling ring
primarily from Colombia to his waterside home south of St. Petersburg,
Florida. Jenks was sentenced to three years in prison and had to forfeit
the gains from his smuggling.

Star power was also much in evidence, as a brooch commissioned for Eva
Peron, the powerful and popular wife of Juan Peron during his presidency of
Argentina from 1946 to 1955, sold for $992,500 on Monday, far exceeding the
$80,000-$120,000 estimate.

Modeled on the flag of Argentina, the platinum-set piece contained seven
baguette-cut diamonds and hundreds of square-cut sapphires and circular-cut
diamonds, with yellow diamonds in the flag's central sun motif.

Christie's said the Van Cleef & Arpels brooch was bought by an unidentified
telephone bidder.