Sotheby’s Reflects on 10 Years of Records

RAPAPORT… The past decade might be known for superheroes, Netflix and memes, but for Sotheby’s it was all about record-breaking jewels, as worldwide sales for the division
totaled more than $4.7 billion.

The auction house sold 40,353 items during the decade, including
683 for more than $1 million and 41 topping $10 million, Sotheby’s said last
week. The 10 most valuable jewels ever sold at the auction house were purchased
over the past decade.

“The last 10 years have seen a complete transformation of
the jewelry-auction market, and without a doubt, this has been a defining
decade in my 40-year career at Sotheby’s,” said David Bennett, chairman of Sotheby’s
international jewelry division. “The revolution of online bidding and
social media…[has] led to unprecedented results for unforgettable diamonds and
gemstones.”

The CTF Pink Star, a 59.60-carat, fancy-vivid-pink,
internally flawless diamond set the record for the most expensive diamond or
gemstone sold at auction. It was purchased by Hong Kong jeweler Chow Tai Fook
in 2017 for $71.2 million at Sotheby’s Hong Kong.

Two other diamonds had
previously set that record during the past 10 years, including the 24.78-carat
Graff Pink, which fetched $46.2 million in Geneva in 2010. The 12.03-carat
Blue Moon of Josephine, which went for $48.5 million in 2015, also sold
for the highest price per carat for a diamond or gemstone, at more than $4 million
per carat — a record that still stands.

In 2013, a D-flawless diamond weighing 118.28 carats garnered
$30.1 million at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong, setting an auction record at the time
for a white diamond. Sotheby’s also holds the world record for a ruby, with the
25.59-carat Sunrise Ruby fetching $30.3 million, more than triple the previous top
price.

The sale of the most valuable jewel ever purchased online also
took place between 2010 and 2020. That honor went to a pair of diamond
earrings, which sold for $6 million in Geneva in 2016.

When it comes to royal jewels, the collection from the
Bourbon-Parma family scored the record, making history in Geneva, and breaking
a 31-year record set by jewels belonging to Wallis Simpson, the
duchess of Windsor. The collection sold in its entirety in 2018 for a
total of $53.1 million. Included in it was a pearl pendant that had been Marie
Antoinette’s, which went for $36.2 million, more than 18 times its high
estimate.

Female purchasing has been on the rise, with the proportion
of women taking part in auctions at Sotheby’s increasing 20% since 2010. A growing
number of those collectors were under 40, the auction house noted.

Image: Some of Sotheby’s highest-selling items over the past decade, including the CTF Pink Star (top, middle) and Marie Antoinette’s pearl brooch (top, right). (Sotheby’s)