Christie’s 2007 Jewelry Sales Reach Record $394.7 Million

Christie’s 2007 jewelry sales, dominated by diamonds, totaled $394.7 million, an increase of 11 percent over 2006, when sales were $355 million. The auction house asserted that such strong jewelry results signal a confident market. Diamonds, natural pearls, Kashmir sapphires and contemporary jewels all broke price records throughout the year.

With only two sales per year, the Asian results were the strongest on record. The November sale realized $47.3 million, making it the largest jewelry auction ever staged in Asia. Jewelry sales in the Americas totaled $120.1 million, an increase of 8.8 percent over 2006 and the highest results achieved in the U.S. jewelry auction market to-date. 

Christie’s European sales also drew strong results - $186.8 million, up 14.9 percent - with London posting its best year ever: $47.2 million, a 19.2 percent rise year-over-year. Last year saw the birth of Dubai as a new auction center for Christie’s jewelry.

Christie’s saw diamond prices in its auctions, especially for top quality colored stones, continue to rise in 2007, and noted increased activity from the Middle East, Russia and China throughout the year.

The item with the highest hammer price for the year was The Baroda Pearls, a two-strand natural pearl necklace with ear-pendants, brooch and ring, which sold in New York in April for $7.096 million. The highest priced diamond was the Dubai Magnificence, a pear shaped, D / flawless 53.71 carat diamond, which sold in New York in December for $5.753 million ($107,112 per carat).

The chairman of jewelry for Christie’s, Francois Curiel, commented, “This year saw many milestones in the jewelry auction market. The magical barrier of $100,000 per carat was broken for top colorless diamonds, while colored diamonds often sold for over $1 million per carat.”

Curiel noted that the high per-carat figures were fed by the participation of new collectors from Russia, China and the Middle East, as well as others bidding for the first time through the Internet. A major geographical realignment also took place, as Hong Kong established itself firmly alongside Geneva and New York as a key international sale center for exceptional jewels.

The market also saw an important transformation in how auctions are marketed, with the arrival of new players from emerging markets, and the way they are conducted, with the introduction of Christie’s LIVE, a real-time, Internet-based, multi-media auction.    

A parallel development has been the strong increase in private sales. Several major gemstones were negotiated this way, in response to a growing demand for a service that offers access to precious stones unknown to the public, often straight from the mines, at competitive prices.