Sotheby’s released figures for its Geneva sales of gems and jewelry. Less eye-catching in terms of price but possibly more important for understanding the direction of the jewelry market was the white-glove sale of items from the personal collection of Suzanne Belperron. Sixty of the designer’s own items made $3.45m, well above the pre-sale price tags:

Sotheby’s set a new world record of $108,377,219 for a various owner jewellery sale, with the conclusion of its two-day Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels Sale, surpassing the record set by Sotheby’s Geneva in November 2010 of $105 million. Over the two days 24 lots sold for over $1 million. The Beau Sancy, one of the most important royal diamonds to ever come to auction, sold for CHF 9,042,500 ($9,699,618). The result achieved by the celebrated jewel brought the total for the May Jewellery auctions to an outstanding total of CHF 104,298,625 ($111,836,526), almost doubling the pre-sale low estimate of CHF 54 -85 million