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Auctions
A Finely Curated Auction
Top-quality goods brought top dollar at Christie’s Hong Kong fall sale.
By Mary Kavanagh
There was little evidence of the challenging global economic market conditions or the very tough climate that local Hong Kong jewelry businesses are facing at Christie’s Hong Kong Magnificent Jewels autumn sale. “We are very pleased, especially factoring in the supposed softening of the market…we are thrilled with the results,” said Vickie Sek, deputy chairman of Christie’s Asia and director of Christie’s jewelry and jadeite department. “The jewels sold well at very competitive prices — many in excess of the high presale estimates. We could not ask for more.” Offering “top quality at reasonable prices” is a strategy that continues to pay off for Christie’s. “We strive to achieve this ideal at every one of our sales,” Sek said. “As with all our sales in the past, nothing sells better than top quality. This has been a pattern for all our sales, a time-tested truth,” she added. The November 2016 sale achieved $79,172,226 in total. Of the 285 lots offered, 225 lots were sold, 80 percent by lot and 84 percent by value. This compares to Christie’s May 2016 spring sale, which brought in a total of $60,676,998, and its autumn Hong Kong sale in December 2015, which achieved a total of $96,904,062.
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Christie’s made an “extra effort” to put together a spectacular collection of colored diamonds for the sale, Sek reported. Among these was the eighth top lot — a 28.78-carat rectangular-cut fancy vivid yellow diamond ring, which achieved $2,028,708, almost doubling the low presale estimate of $1,100,000. “These colored items brought in prices that far exceeded their high estimates,” Sek said. “What surprised us though was the intense interest from the trade with their ardent bidding. Many were strong underbidders for almost all the colored diamonds, including the top lot by Moussaieff.”
Bidding was competitive and enthusiastic overall, with active bidding via all channels — in-room, telephone and online. “We ran out of phone lines at the phone bench,” Sek said. “The house was full right from the beginning to almost the end, when many stayed to witness the bidding for the grand finale jewels. This auction attracted a lot of clients willing and ready to bid competitively, generating great excitement.” Sek noted that many of the underbidders at the sale were from the trade in Asia, America and Europe. “We have a healthy split of both private and trade clients, and they are all active in our sale rooms,” she said. A member of the Hong Kong trade, who wished to remain anonymous, said he and his colleagues attended the auction to get a feel for the mood in the market — the prices being paid and what was selling. They were generally impressed by the sale. Christie’s, too, did its research before the sale in order to determine where the demand was and what type of items worked, and fine-tuned its collection before the presale tours and exhibitions. The results speak for themselves*All prices include buyer’s premium.Article from the Rapaport Magazine - January 2017. To subscribe click here.
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