Sotheby’s has decided to reposition its jewellery division through several key initiatives to attract younger customers and enhance its digital presence.
Sotheby’s announced that its flagship jewellery auctions will be rebranded from Magnificent Jewels to High Jewelry. This repositioning will also benefit Sotheby’s online sales. The auction house has significantly expanded the High Jewelry assortment and has seen an increase in digital engagement with Millennial buyers now comfortable making high-value purchases from its fixed price offering, including pieces with a six-figure price tag.
Sotheby’s jewellery clients can now transact with the auction house via live and online auctions, private sales, and have access to a monthly ‘Gem Drop’ of three gemstones, offered on the ‘Sotheby’s Sealed’ platform without reserve or buyer’s premium.
The auction house has also rebranded its Fine Jewels sales as Fine Jewelry. The company will continue to hold its annual Royal and Noble sale every November in Geneva, Switzerland, offering historically significant collections to bidders.
To support the company’s initiatives and as part of its overall growth plans, Sotheby’s has made three new strategic hires recently on its global jewellery team. Edmond Chan returns to Sotheby’s as head of the jewellery department in Hong Kong, bringing expertise from his previous role at Luxeford. At Luxeford, Chan oversaw the management of the Luxeford jewellery team in Asia while driving the growth of the business through brand and client relationships centred around online auction and digital platforms. He originally began his career at Sotheby’s as a specialist and spent 10 years with the Hong Kong team.
Graeme Thompson will join as senior international specialist, Dubai in March, leading sales and sourcing in the Middle East. Thompson held prominent roles including worldwide head of jewellery and head of Asia at Phillips and Bonhams. He served as director at LJ West most recently, specialising in fancy coloured diamonds.
Jessica Koers will come aboard as senior specialist for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), based in the Amsterdam office. Koers has held key role in Christie’s previously for growing the business in the European market. With over 25 years of experience in the jewellery and luxury goods industry, she is a distinguished gemmologist and jewellery historian.
Emma Paleschi, global managing director of jewelry at Sotheby’s, said: “It used to be that the jewellery client was typically of one particular profile with established collecting habits, and all our interactions with them, including bidding, were in person. While those clients remain an extremely important part of our client base, our evolving clientele now includes a growing alternative profile of client, one which is finding us, engaging with us and transacting with us via entirely different tools.”
26-02-2025
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