Selling jewelry is a business. Certainly if earrings, necklaces and rings go up for auction. This is demonstrated by the accounts of Sotheby’s, which in 2012 sold jewels for a record sum: 460.5 million dollars, approximately 355 million euros. The sale of jewellery, paradoxically, was aided by crises, namely by the success of private collections put up for auction. Last year Sotheby’s sold exceptional diamonds and precious stones, as well as historical jewels that also belonged to noble families. The average achieved is not bad: 84% of sales per lot. And for 72 lots it was sold for more than 1 million dollars, for six over 5 million. One highlight was a record jewelry sale in Geneva last May that totaled $108.4 million. And in December, in New York, it sold for $64.8 million. Sotheby’s also made waves in Asia, with 114.5 million dollars in Hong Kong.
Among the most brilliant results, it must be said, a 10.48-carat blue briolette diamond, purchased by the great London jeweler Laurence Graff for 10.8 million, i.e. 1.03 million per carat. Sotheby’s also sold the 34.98-carat, pear-cut Beau Sancy diamond with a history dating back 400 years for 9.7 million. The diamond was passed down through the royal families of France, England, Prussia and the House of Orange. A 22.84-carat platinum emerald ring that belonged to Brooke Astor sold for $1.2 million, and a flawless 6.54-carat pink diamond ring from the Evelyn H. Lauder collection set the record high. 8.5 million.
