Returning 'phire

'Stolen' gem found in NYC pawn shop - 19 years later

A rare sapphire that went missing from a hotel in Italy nearly 20 years ago has popped up in a Diamond District pawn shop, according to a $7 million dollar lawsuit filed Monday by a man claiming to be the gem’s true owner.

Genevabased jewel dealer Ronny Totah says in the Manhattan Supreme Court suit that his 65.16carat Kashmir sapphire was stolen from under his nose at a Milan auction preview in 1996.

He is suing Modern Pawn Brokers and its owner, Boris Aronov, who possess the Cartier sapphireanddiamond bracelet (right) from 1923 to which Totah claims the stone is affixed.

Totah’s suit also names Rafael Koelence, who the papers claim pledged the sapphire to the West 47th Street shop in November 2011.

Totah said the theft occurred at 2:20 p.m. in a packed Four Seasons ballroom in Milan days before it was due to be sold at the Magical Art of Cartier auction (pamphlet inset) in Geneva in November 1996.

The heist, he said, seemed like a “professional job.”

The stone remained missing until November 2015, when Totah got an email from Nazgol Jahan, worldwide director of jewels at Phillips auction house, saying a “rare Kashmir sapphire” and diamond bracelet would be up for auction Dec. 8 in New York City.

“This sapphire is one of the largest faceted Kashmir sapphires known, and . . . is one of the finest Kashmir sapphires in the world,” an auction preview read. “This is the largest faceted Kashmir sapphire ever to be sold at auction.”

Totah got the Upper East Side auction house to pull the gem, believing it was his stolen sapphire cut down to 59.57 carats to hide its origin.

“Kashmir sapphires of the weight, shape, measurements and quality of the . . . subject sapphire are so rare it is entirely reasonable to conclude that they are one and the same,” the suit reads.

“There are only a handful of Kashmirmir sapsap phires in the worrld as large.”

The bracellet now resides at Modern Pawn Brrokers. Court papeers show the shop has been holding it as collateral on an unpaid 60 percentinterest loan made to Koelence in 2013..

Aranov did not respond to rer peated requessts for comment.

Reached byb phone, Koelencce said, “I have mym own sapphire . . .I don’t know whhat you’re talkinng about.”