SALES REVIEW JEWELLERY


The last jewellery sale of 2014, in October, added to the department’s highest annual turnover ever of £4,485,000.


The rarity of a pair of well-matched Kashmir sapphires, mounted in a Chaumet ring, drove a Far Eastern buyer to £366,000. This converted to $82,500 per carat, a world record for sapphires of this size. In addition to the Cartier pearl and diamond earrings and the pearl and diamond necklace featured in the Chairman’s Introduction (page 3), a pair of round 11.5mm natural pearl earrings sold for £39,000.


The amber market continues to accelerate, encouraged by the strength of the Chinese buyers. The more desirable examples are now well surpassing the price per gram of gold. An amber bead necklace exhibiting the sought-after ‘butterscotch’ colour sold for £12,200 equating to £64 per gram. Pure gold on the day was quoted at £25 per gram.


ASIAN ART November’s Asian Art sale saw some strong results throughout, with Helen Espir’s collection of European decorated Oriental porcelain contributing just over £110,000 to the final total of over £3 million. Proving that size isn’t everything, the top lot on the 12th November was 296, a pair of Chinese doucai cups dating to the Yongzheng period (1723-35), measuring just 4.5cm high and selling to a collector in China for £453,800. Lot 250, a dark celadon jade 19th century Imperial seal for the Empress Xiaoyiren eventually sold for £160,000, showing once again that historically interesting pieces with excellent provenance are increasingly what discerning buyers are looking for. The Chinese word ruyi translates loosely as ‘as you wish’, the ceremonial sceptre believed to grant wishes to the owner, and this was certainly true for lot 165, an aloeswood ruyi sceptre, which sold for £63,200.


26 | WOOLLEY & WALLIS


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28