Sotheby's Breaks Record at Online Jewelry Sale

RAPAPORT... A gem-set, diamond and enamel tutti frutti bracelet by Cartier garnered $1.3 million at Sotheby's, the highest price for any jewel sold in an online auction.The piece, which features a selection of old European and single-cut, VS- to SI-clarity, F- to I-color diamonds, surrounded by rubies, emeralds and sapphires, smashed its high estimate of $800,000, the auction house said Wednesday. It also fetched the highest price for any jewel sold at auction in 2020 by any house, Sotheby's added."The result achieved for this bracelet is testament to the fact that, even under the most challenging of circumstances, the demand for great art endures," said Catharine Becket, head of the company's Magnificent Jewels auctions in New York. "Tutti frutti jewels have always held a special allure for collectors."The tutti frutti bracelet also set a record for the second-highest price ever at an online Sotheby's auction, behind Friedrich von Hayek's Nobel Prize in Economics from 1974, which brought in $1.5 million in 2019.Sotheby's has garnered a total of $7.4 million from online jewelry sales in 2020, against a combined presale high estimate of $6.5 million, with 93% of all items on offer selling. Its next online Fine Jewels sale will take place May 12 to 20.Image: The Cartier tutti frutti bracelet. (Sotheby's)