New Delhi, April 15 (Inditop.com) The jewellery auction market that slumped under the impact of financial meltdown is showing signs of recouping with increasingly discerning and confident buyers bidding for jewellery.
The spring online auction of jewellery Wednesday at the Mumbai-based online art auction house, Saffronart, registered an increase of 35 percent over last year’s sale.
After two days of bidding, the top lots sold included a magnificent five-strand natural pearl necklace for Rs.43.82 lakh ($99,600); a pair of ruby and diamond ear clips for Rs.17.25 lakh; an important diamond and coloured diamond necklace for Rs.15.24 lakh; a pair of diamond ear studs for Rs.10.01 lakh and an emerald and diamond necklace for Rs.7.13 lakh.
The total sale notched this auction was Rs.2.01 crore compared to Rs.1.48 crore in 2009.
The auction house began its online jewellery sale in 2008.
Minal Vazirani, president and co-founder of Saffronart, said the auction exhibited two trends.
“A new segment of increasingly discerning and confident buyers were bidding for jewellery at auctions and greater transparency in transactions through prices foster greater accountability,” Vaziriani said.
The lots featured a selection of jewellery, watches and men’s accessories from Cartier, Chopard, Boucheron, Van Cleef & Arpels and Tiffany & Co among others.
Global auctioneer Sotheby’s was scouting for new buyers from Asia with a special focus on India that was emerging as a potential auction market for its spring sale, officials said.
On May 11, the spring sale of Sotheby’s rare jewels will see a riviere of 28 circular cut diamonds of more than 160 carats go under the hammer in its nobel jewel auction category, while the magnificent jewels section will be led by a spectacular 52.82 carat white diamond, a 5.02 carat blue diamond, a Burmese ruby and jewels from the collection of Lily Marinho and Antonietta Stella.
Sources in Sotheby’s said 2009 “had been an exceptional year for auctioneer’s jewellery department”.
The auction department sold more than $73 million worth of jewellery and established new world prices for coloured diamonds and rubies.
Highlighting the nature of the sale, David Bennett said: “Our sales in Geneva will bring together an exceptional array of jewels of noble provenance. We hope to build on our sales of 2009 that demonstrated how deep, strong and international the jewellery market is.”
The auction market is buoyed by the fact that the Indian gemstone and jewellery market that slumped in 2009 under the impact of the meltdown has been recouping since February 2010, chairman of the Gemstone and Jewellery Export Promotion Council Basant Mehta said.
Jewellery export accounted for about 15 percent of the country’s total exports worth $185 billion in 2008-09.
