Sotheby's Landmark Jewelry Sale Raises $44m

(IDEX Online) - Sotheby's marked the opening of its new global headquarters in New York by holding its first evening jewelry auction in a decade, achieving total sales of $43.9m.

The sale, on 8 December, featured A Legacy of Elegance: Jewels from an Exceptional Collection, a 56-lot private collection that produced a white glove result, with 100 percent of lots sold. The auction realized $13.9m, well above Sotheby's pre-sale estimate of $8m.

Among the highlights were 24 lots by Suzanne Belperron, which collectively raised $3.5m, and 12 lots by JAR (Joel Arthur Rosenthal), selling for $5.7m.

The top lot of the evening was a Boucheron laurel wreath necklace, designed circa 1888 and set with seven cushion-shaped rubies totaling approximately 40 carats, accented by about 65 carats of old mine and old European-cut diamonds.

The necklace, once owned by American socialite Marie-Louise Mackay and later by the legendary Countess Mona Bismarck, sold for $1.3m, against a pre-sale estimate of $1m to $2m.

The evening marked a significant milestone as Sotheby's relocated to the Breuer Building — a landmark structure that was previously home to the Whitney Museum and the Met Breuer branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

"Our first jewelry sales at the Breuer have set a thrilling new benchmark for Sotheby's," said Quig Bruning, head of Sotheby's jewels, Americas & EMEA. "It has been an exceptionally strong year for the jewelry market, and we look forward to carrying this momentum into 2026."

Pic courtesy Sotheby's shows the $1.3m Boucheron necklace.