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Still Seduced
LONDON Some miracles have a way of going unnoticed. Gems and jewels have been doing brilliantly at auction for months, as if bidders had never been told that there is a recession. And yet this has not aroused much commentary.
Could this silence be due to the fact that global sales in the first half of 2009 dropped by 54 percent at Christie's and Sotheby's alike, compared with the corresponding period of 2008? Probably. That leaves a nasty impression. But this abrupt fall of global figures reflects the drastic shrinking of supplies, not a dip in demand, which remains as strong as it has ever been, in a striking parallel to what is happening in the art market.
At Christie's, which has been leading the market for years, worldwide jewelry sales during the first half of 2009 went down to $103 million, spectacularly less than the $226 million posted in the first six months of 2008, and at Sotheby's the 2009 total, $70 million, likewise looks miserable when compared with the $150 million of 2008. This may have cowed into uncharacteristic silence the propaganda machinery of the two international auction houses. It sounds rather unconvincing to admit that you have taken a big step back, and to say in the same breath that your sales are brilliantly successful.
Unconvincing maybe, but true. No one can reasonably argue that the market is faring poorly when earth shattering world records are set.
Continue reading the main story
The faceting of the diamond was dazzling and the delicate ultramarine blue exceedingly rare, but this was more than just a beautiful gem. Its history went back to the 17th century, when Philip IV of Spain gave it to his daughter Margaret Theresa on her betrothal to Leopold I, the ruler of the "Roman Germanic Empire." Later, it belonged to the Princes of Wittelsbach in Bavaria. To round it off nicely, the stone can be shown today to have been cut by Sa'ida ye Gilani, the Iranian poet, calligrapher and jeweler employed at the Moghul court by the emperor Jahangir (who reigned from 1605 1627), thus multiplying its potential value manyfold. However, the catalog did not mention this, since it was not known at the time of the sale.
The world leader in diamonds, Laurence Graff of London, finding the blue diamond irresistible, paid a world record price, the highest for any stone ever auctioned.
Five months later, another extraordinary price within its range was realized at Sotheby's in Geneva. This confirmed that the market was indeed exploding at the top end. Once again, the subject of the excitement was a fancy blue diamond.
With its "fancy vivid blue" color, the 7.03 carat gem dazzled connoisseurs out of their wits. It brought a staggering $9.48 million, just over $1.34 million a carat, making the diamond the most expensive stone per carat ever sold in any category. Unlike Christie's fabulous historic diamond,van cleef and arpel necklace fake, it had no distant past. The bauble was cut from a 26.58 carat rough diamond recovered the year before at the Cullinan mine in South Africa. It was solely the lure of the stone that determined the prodigious price.
Sotheby's press release announced that the buyer,alhambra pendant necklace replica, Joseph Lau Luen hung of Hong Kong, had acquired the diamond, and given it a name, "The Star of Josephine." Josephine being his wife's name, dealers were ecstatic. This really was a private acquisition, fully demonstrating the vibrancy of the market.
Other extraordinary prices were fetched at Sotheby's Geneva auction, which netted a cool $35.76 million. A rare "fancy pink" diamond cut in the shape of a pear soared to $2.04 million, a huge figure for a 5.29 carat stone.
Where aristocratic provenance could be established, jewels soared sky high.
A diadem and necklace made by Cartier in 1912 for Olga Princess Paley, Countess of Hohenfelsen, sold at least as well as they might have done in pre recessionary days, both doubling their high estimates. The diadem (described as an "aigrette tiara"), set with rose cut diamonds and two aquamarines, brought $512,014; and the necklace, designed in the same heavily ornate style, cost an equally breathtaking $392,700. A late 18th century pair of ear clips with spinels and diamonds, solemnly cataloged as "the property of a German Princely and Liechtenstein Ruling Family," almost quadrupled the high estimate at $105,000.
When asked about the atmosphere as perceived by the man wielding the hammer, David Bennett, chairman of Sotheby's jewelry departments in Europe and the Middle East,van cleef onyx necklace replica, said that it felt like being back in the good old days of the mid 1990s.
Perhaps the astounding bullishness of the jewelry market is best illustrated by the prices achieved much further down the financial scale. Here one might have expected the recession to work havoc. Lower incomes have taken a nasty knock, and uncertainty about the future might have an inhibiting effect. Yet, consider what happened on June 10 as Franois Curiel,van cleef and arpels mother of pearl necklace fake, the international director of Christie's jewelry department and chairman of Christie's Europe was conducting the company's late spring London sale of jewelry.
An interesting pattern became apparent from the very beginning. Signed jewels set with good quality stones sold like hot cakes regardless of style or period.
The proceedings opened with a necklace of gold swan heads clutching in their beaks blue sodalite disks. The jewel, adorned with the name of Lalaounis and dated 1995 by its London hallmark, went up to $24,450, two and a half times the high estimate.
Later, a necklace made from oval gold links joined by diamond set clasps and signed Cartier Paris excited bidders, who sent it climbing to $42,750, more than triple the estimate. A gold and diamond "panthre wristwatch," also by Cartier, which came next, managed to match the high estimate at $16,700, even though dozens of that type can be found.
When an important period jewel appeared, the attendance enthusiastically responded as it had done at Sotheby's. Christie's "superb antique diamond brooch" was an unusual composite piece. Made up from magnificent 18th century pear shaped diamond drops hanging from an inverted lotus chalice (a "canopy" in Christie's terminology), it exceeded the high estimate as a private collector from Britain footed the $374,824 bill. The "I want it" mood that prevailed was never more evident.
In its own modest line, an Art Deco travel clock of spinach green jade, its dial framed by a gold chain motif set off by black enamel, provided evidence of the private buyers' sunny disposition, as it brought $14,260, substantially more than the high estimate. This is typically the kind of object that would have faltered if bidders had not been buying purely for pleasure. Neither rarity nor investment considerations can be invoked to account for a price that far exceeded Christie's estimate.
If any difference with the pre recession jewelry market could be detected this year, this is perhaps the even greater attention paid to famous provenances or renowned signatures. In other words, there is an intensified search for aura and its reassuring quality.
In Sotheby's Geneva May sale, five of the most expensive 10 lots were Harry Winston jewels set with diamonds and other gems. The perfection of the stones mattered, but the name helped. The current wave of interest in the jewels of the late 1960s and early 1970s, to which Mr.
A day later at Christie's, a "mystery set" made in 1956 by Van Cleef Arpels in the form of two intertwined leaves set with sapphires and diamonds brought $112,845, far more than expected. The delicate workmanship was of the highest order and the elegant design played up the quality of the gems.
Clearly, the sheer pleasure taken in gazing at beautiful stones is the secret weapon that allows the jewelry market to triumph at every level. And the fact that so many buyers find it possible up and down the financial ladder to succumb to the attraction without going bankrupt suggests that the recession, devastating though it is to some, leaves essentially intact countless private fortunes, from very large to relatively small.
LONDON Some miracles have a way of going unnoticed. Gems and jewels have been doing brilliantly at auction for months, as if bidders had never been told that there is a recession. And yet this has not aroused much commentary.
Could this silence be due to the fact that global sales in the first half of 2009 dropped by 54 percent at Christie's and Sotheby's alike, compared with the corresponding period of 2008? Probably. That leaves a nasty impression. But this abrupt fall of global figures reflects the drastic shrinking of supplies, not a dip in demand, which remains as strong as it has ever been, in a striking parallel to what is happening in the art market.
At Christie's, which has been leading the market for years, worldwide jewelry sales during the first half of 2009 went down to $103 million, spectacularly less than the $226 million posted in the first six months of 2008, and at Sotheby's the 2009 total, $70 million, likewise looks miserable when compared with the $150 million of 2008. This may have cowed into uncharacteristic silence the propaganda machinery of the two international auction houses. It sounds rather unconvincing to admit that you have taken a big step back, and to say in the same breath that your sales are brilliantly successful.
Unconvincing maybe, but true. No one can reasonably argue that the market is faring poorly when earth shattering world records are set.
Continue reading the main story
The faceting of the diamond was dazzling and the delicate ultramarine blue exceedingly rare, but this was more than just a beautiful gem. Its history went back to the 17th century, when Philip IV of Spain gave it to his daughter Margaret Theresa on her betrothal to Leopold I, the ruler of the "Roman Germanic Empire." Later, it belonged to the Princes of Wittelsbach in Bavaria. To round it off nicely, the stone can be shown today to have been cut by Sa'ida ye Gilani, the Iranian poet, calligrapher and jeweler employed at the Moghul court by the emperor Jahangir (who reigned from 1605 1627), thus multiplying its potential value manyfold. However, the catalog did not mention this, since it was not known at the time of the sale.
The world leader in diamonds, Laurence Graff of London, finding the blue diamond irresistible, paid a world record price, the highest for any stone ever auctioned.
Five months later, another extraordinary price within its range was realized at Sotheby's in Geneva. This confirmed that the market was indeed exploding at the top end. Once again, the subject of the excitement was a fancy blue diamond.
With its "fancy vivid blue" color, the 7.03 carat gem dazzled connoisseurs out of their wits. It brought a staggering $9.48 million, just over $1.34 million a carat, making the diamond the most expensive stone per carat ever sold in any category. Unlike Christie's fabulous historic diamond,van cleef and arpel necklace fake, it had no distant past. The bauble was cut from a 26.58 carat rough diamond recovered the year before at the Cullinan mine in South Africa. It was solely the lure of the stone that determined the prodigious price.
Sotheby's press release announced that the buyer,alhambra pendant necklace replica, Joseph Lau Luen hung of Hong Kong, had acquired the diamond, and given it a name, "The Star of Josephine." Josephine being his wife's name, dealers were ecstatic. This really was a private acquisition, fully demonstrating the vibrancy of the market.
Other extraordinary prices were fetched at Sotheby's Geneva auction, which netted a cool $35.76 million. A rare "fancy pink" diamond cut in the shape of a pear soared to $2.04 million, a huge figure for a 5.29 carat stone.
Where aristocratic provenance could be established, jewels soared sky high.
A diadem and necklace made by Cartier in 1912 for Olga Princess Paley, Countess of Hohenfelsen, sold at least as well as they might have done in pre recessionary days, both doubling their high estimates. The diadem (described as an "aigrette tiara"), set with rose cut diamonds and two aquamarines, brought $512,014; and the necklace, designed in the same heavily ornate style, cost an equally breathtaking $392,700. A late 18th century pair of ear clips with spinels and diamonds, solemnly cataloged as "the property of a German Princely and Liechtenstein Ruling Family," almost quadrupled the high estimate at $105,000.
When asked about the atmosphere as perceived by the man wielding the hammer, David Bennett, chairman of Sotheby's jewelry departments in Europe and the Middle East,van cleef onyx necklace replica, said that it felt like being back in the good old days of the mid 1990s.
Perhaps the astounding bullishness of the jewelry market is best illustrated by the prices achieved much further down the financial scale. Here one might have expected the recession to work havoc. Lower incomes have taken a nasty knock, and uncertainty about the future might have an inhibiting effect. Yet, consider what happened on June 10 as Franois Curiel,van cleef and arpels mother of pearl necklace fake, the international director of Christie's jewelry department and chairman of Christie's Europe was conducting the company's late spring London sale of jewelry.
An interesting pattern became apparent from the very beginning. Signed jewels set with good quality stones sold like hot cakes regardless of style or period.
The proceedings opened with a necklace of gold swan heads clutching in their beaks blue sodalite disks. The jewel, adorned with the name of Lalaounis and dated 1995 by its London hallmark, went up to $24,450, two and a half times the high estimate.
Later, a necklace made from oval gold links joined by diamond set clasps and signed Cartier Paris excited bidders, who sent it climbing to $42,750, more than triple the estimate. A gold and diamond "panthre wristwatch," also by Cartier, which came next, managed to match the high estimate at $16,700, even though dozens of that type can be found.
When an important period jewel appeared, the attendance enthusiastically responded as it had done at Sotheby's. Christie's "superb antique diamond brooch" was an unusual composite piece. Made up from magnificent 18th century pear shaped diamond drops hanging from an inverted lotus chalice (a "canopy" in Christie's terminology), it exceeded the high estimate as a private collector from Britain footed the $374,824 bill. The "I want it" mood that prevailed was never more evident.
In its own modest line, an Art Deco travel clock of spinach green jade, its dial framed by a gold chain motif set off by black enamel, provided evidence of the private buyers' sunny disposition, as it brought $14,260, substantially more than the high estimate. This is typically the kind of object that would have faltered if bidders had not been buying purely for pleasure. Neither rarity nor investment considerations can be invoked to account for a price that far exceeded Christie's estimate.
If any difference with the pre recession jewelry market could be detected this year, this is perhaps the even greater attention paid to famous provenances or renowned signatures. In other words, there is an intensified search for aura and its reassuring quality.
In Sotheby's Geneva May sale, five of the most expensive 10 lots were Harry Winston jewels set with diamonds and other gems. The perfection of the stones mattered, but the name helped. The current wave of interest in the jewels of the late 1960s and early 1970s, to which Mr.
A day later at Christie's, a "mystery set" made in 1956 by Van Cleef Arpels in the form of two intertwined leaves set with sapphires and diamonds brought $112,845, far more than expected. The delicate workmanship was of the highest order and the elegant design played up the quality of the gems.
Clearly, the sheer pleasure taken in gazing at beautiful stones is the secret weapon that allows the jewelry market to triumph at every level. And the fact that so many buyers find it possible up and down the financial ladder to succumb to the attraction without going bankrupt suggests that the recession, devastating though it is to some, leaves essentially intact countless private fortunes, from very large to relatively small.
The Wall