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Auctions
Ladies Who Lunch
The estates of several society doyennes led the Magnificent Jewelry sales at the New York autumn auctions.
By Amber Michelle
The auction houses lust after the estates of great private collectors while consumers and dealers alike crave those top-quality jewels with a storied provenance. Both Christie’s and Sotheby’s auction houses in New York were able to fulfill that dream sale in December as they auctioned off jewelry from the estates of women from the society set. These women were the arbiters of style in their social circles, some even made the best-dressed list. They were known for their art collections and gracious entertaining and each was the epitome of the refined lifestyle. When these ladies lunched, they were powerhouses of philanthropy and their jewels were an expression not only of good taste, but also of their ability to give to charitable causes. The sales at the two auction houses paralleled each other in many ways. Both were truly jewelry sales. While Christie’s had some big rocks in the mix, Sotheby’s was mostly wearable jewelry with a few important diamonds sprinkled in. Exceptional diamonds did well at both sales, bringing in solid prices. Smaller — under 10 carats — bread-and-butter goods were generally overlooked. Both auctions were characterized by heavy bidding, which made for long sales. Given that both sales were more jewelry- than stone-driven, the pieces going on the block were reasonably — even bargain — priced, leading to relatively low totals even though there was good sell-through.
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The next day at Sotheby’s the bidding continued to be very active as buyers vied for jewelry from the estates of Betsey Cushing Whitney and John Hay Whitney, Rose Sachs, Anne Lichtblau — mostly jewelry — and Marjorie S. Fisher. The sale was led by the Marjorie S. Fisher estate, which took over the morning session and had its own catalog of 205 lots. It was a sampling of the 1,000 some pieces that will be sold at Sotheby’s during 2017. “We spent nine days in Mrs. Fisher’s vault in Palm Beach,” Gary Schuler, head of the jewelry department at Sotheby’s, mentioned during a private viewing for this reporter of the jewelry before the sale. There was so much bidding in the morning session that it ran into the afternoon session, causing it to start late. More vigorous bidding in the afternoon made for a sale that ran until 7:15. Despite a strong sell-through without much in the way of big important rocks, the final total for the sale was $25,153,750 against a presale estimate of $24 million. There were 455 lots offered, 396 sold and the sale was sold 87 percent by lot and 77.2 percent by value. The Sotheby’s April 2016 auction brought in $29,886,875 for 317 lots offered. The December 2015 sale realized $52, 278,750. The top lot of the day was an 18.04-carat, D, VVS1, potentially internally flawless marquise-shaped diamond ring that came from the Fisher estate. It sold for $1,842,500 or $102,134 per carat, to an anonymous buyer. During the sale, an industry insider noted that the estimates were very low on goods offered and went on to say that no one would have blinked if some of the estimates had been higher, especially on some of the signed pieces. “This sale was a celebration of jewelry,” stated Schuler. “There were strong results for signed jewels and strong results for both color and white diamonds.” Overall, both sales were satisfying. During a champagne toast immediately following the close of Christie’s auction in honor of its 250th anniversary, a dealer confided that the results brought some much needed optimism and hope to the trade. *All prices include buyer’s premium.Article from the Rapaport Magazine - January 2017. To subscribe click here.
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