Jewelry Sales For Christie's And Sotheby's Total $906.3 Million In 2018

Combined jewelry sales for Christie's and Sotheby's totaled $906.3 million for 2018, with Christie's achieving $492.3 million and Sotheby's at $414 million The top lot of the year went to Christie's for the "Winston Pink Legacy," an 18.96-carat rectangular-cut fancy vivid pink diamond that was purchased by the Harry Winston jewelry brand for more than $50.3 million, setting a world auction record for the price per carat for a pink diamond at more than $2.6 million per carat The star lot was a natural pearl attached to a diamond pendant that sold for more than $361 million, totally smashing its $2 million high estimate.

The November auction by Sotheby's Geneva set a new record for any sale of royal jewels, fetching $53.1 million, more than seven times the high estimate of $7 million The Sotheby's New York sale of Barbara Sinatra's personal jewelry realized $4.7 million in December, with 100% of lots sold At Christie's it accounted for $78 million of its total sales for 2018, a 12% decline from 2017.

Sotheby's did report that 42% of the bids in its jewelry sales were placed online in 2018 and the number of jewels sold online was up by 53%, year-over-year. . Source