BONHAMS DOMINATES U.K JEWELLERY MARKET FOR THIRD CONSECUTIVE YEAR Bonhams is 21st century market leader for Jewellery
For the third consecutive year, Bonhams continues as market leader for jewellery in the UK.
The past year has been a landmark year for fine jewellery at Bonhams. A new world record was set and the company secured nearly half of the market share of UK sales.
In April, Bonhams London sold an extremely rare fancy deep-blue diamond ‘Trombino’ ring by Bulgari weighing 5.30 carats for £6.2million and set a new world record price for a blue diamond at $1.8million per carat.
Blue diamonds are very rarely seen on the market and fancy-coloured blue diamonds are among the most valuable and sought-after in the world. They are structurally very pure and account for less than one per cent of all diamonds mined. They have delighted royals and celebrities over the centuries, with the most famous blue ‘Hope Diamond’ bought by King Louis XIV of France in the late 17th Century.
In December, Bonhams London sold the largest collection of jewellery ever to be auctioned by a living author. Forty stunning jewels from the collection of worldwide best-selling author Barbara Taylor Bradford made over £1.22million in less than one hour.
Every one of the 40 breathtaking jewels was given to the author during her 49-year-long marriage to her film and TV producer husband Robert Bradford and reveals the story of her marriage.
The top lot in the collection was a spectacular 14.07 carat diamond single-stone ring by David Morris which was sold for £446,500. It given to Barbara as birthday present by husband Robert – “When you wear this, you don’t need any other jewellery,” he told her.
With over 40 jewellery auctions a year, including three fine sales held at the magnificent new headquarters in London’s Bond Street, Bonhams has more dedicated jewellery auctions than any other international auctioneer. It also maintains its position in the secondary market at Knightsbridge where it continues to take the lion’s share.
Long known as a respected force in the global market place, Bonhams has now proved its dominance as UK market leader for jewellery.
Bonhams, founded in 1793, is one of the world's largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. The present company was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son & Neale. In August 2002, the company acquired Butterfields, the principal firm of auctioneers on the West Coast of America. Today, Bonhams offers more sales than any of its rivals, through two major salerooms in London: New Bond Street and Knightsbridge; and a further three in the UK regions and Scotland. Sales are also held in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Carmel, New York and Connecticut in the USA; and Germany, France, Monaco, Hong Kong and Australia. Bonhams has a worldwide network of offices and regional representatives in 25 countries offering sales advice and valuation services in 60 specialist areas. For a full listing of upcoming sales, plus details of Bonhams specialist departments go to www.bonhams.com.
