Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

Sotheby’s Geneva Jewels = $108.3m

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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

 

Sotheby's Geneva Jewels = $89m

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With 90% of the lots sold for $89,121,687. Pink diamonds continue to be market stars and Jewelry as a whole remains a very strong market. Scott Reyburn follows up on that theme on Bloomberg:

“It’s difficult to predict what big stones will make,” Sam Taub, director of the Antwerp wholesalers CLS Diamonds, said in an interview. “Each bidder has a different personal reason for wanting to buy. At this level, diamonds aren’t a commodity market.”

Diamonds are selling for higher figures than those achieved before the financial crisis. Rare colored stones continue to command one-off prices. Gems lighter than 4 carats, and some collectors’ items, are now about 10 percent more expensive than they were three years ago, Taub said. Values of smaller white stones have been pushed up by speculative trade buying inIndia, he said.

Pink Diamond Fetches $10.9 Million at Sotheby’s as Gem Collectors Battle (Bloomberg)

Jan Krugier Dies at 80

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It’s one thing to talk about the redemptive power of art. Jan Krugier lived it. Born to a Jewish manufacturer in Poland in 1928, Krugier’s father was a modest art collector and a Polish patriot. He stayed in Poland until it was too late leaving the 13 year old Jan to become a member of the Polish resistance. Jan was captured in 1943, ending up in two concentration camps and as slave laborer in a Farben plant. After the war, Krugier studied art but was haunted by his experiences. The work of other artists was a balm to his tortured soul (those words might be romantic in another context but are merely descriptive here.) Participating in the creation and distribution of art as a dealer became his life’s work. Eventually he owned galleries in Geneva and New York (operated by his daughter.)

Here’s a great story about Krugier by the excellent Nicholas Fox Weber:

New York Times: Alum of Hell

(The Jan Krugier Gallery’s obit after the jump.)Continue Reading

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