Category Archives: Our Team News

David Hockney Splash

David Hockney

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Who would have guessed that at the Sotheby’s Art auction in 2006, provided you had a spare £2.9 million, you could buy a truly iconic 60’s Splash painting by David Hockney, sell it 14 years later via the same auction house and achieve over a 600% net return on your investment!

Gaugin’s Chair (1988) sold in New York in 2017 for £6.1 million

This is the story behind Hockney’s painting ‘The Splash’, which comes up for auction again in London next month on Feb 11th. This time it has a £20-£30m estimate – ten times it’s 2006 price tag. The canny vendor has also secured an auction guarantee from a third party, meaning no worries about it selling and no nail biting on auction night. The owner can just sit back, relax and enjoy the show, as whatever happens it’s going to sell. The price achieved back at auction in 2006 was a new world record for Hockney and the Contemporary Art market was steaming ahead. Since then Hockney’s prices have rocketed, and in 2018 Hockney briefly became the most expensive living artist at auction, pushing Jeff Koons out of the top spot with ‘Portrait of an Artist, Pool with Two Figures’ (1972) which sold in NY for £61m.

Portrait of an Artist , Pool with with Two Figures (1972) sold in NY for £61 million

This got me thinking about other Hockney works that had made more than one appearance on the auction block over the last 10-20 years and how they fared.
Gaugin’s Chair from 1988 first appeared at a 1988 Christie’s Lighthouse charity sale and made £160k, it pops up again in 1998 and makes £23.k, then again in in New York in 2017 where it makes a staggering £6.1m!

Picture of a Hollywood Swimming Pool (1964) made £5.5 miliion in New York in 2019

 

Swimming Pool (1965) sold for £1.2 milllion in 2007. In June 2012 it made £2.5 million

‘Picture of a Hollywood Swimming Pool’, from 1964 was first offered from the Stanley Seeger Collection in 2001 when it made £465k. At its next appearance in 2019 in New York it sold for £5.5m.
‘Swimming Pool’ from 1965 first appeared in 2007, when it made £1.2m then it pops up again in June 2012 when it sold for £2.5m.

Different Kinds of Water pouring into a Swimming Pool (1965) sold for £506,000 in New York in 1989. In 2019 it made just over £2.7 million

Another example that shows things don’t always go to plan is that of the other Pool themed picture from 1965 called ‘Different Kinds of Water pouring into a Swimming Pool’. It first comes up in NY in 1989 when it makes £506k; then pops up again in 2018 with a speculative estimate of £6-8m. It fails to sell and then comes up again the following year in 2019, but now with a much more realistic £2.5-3.5m estimate. This time it sells comfortably within the estimate range at just over £2.7m

The Splash (1966) expects to sell for £20-£30 million in London in February 2020

The David Hockney exhibition at Tate Britain in 2017 was a Blockbuster and a total triumph. For me, it acted as a catalyst for the surge in interest in Hockney and his work. ‘Hockney is Tate Britain’s most visited exhibition ever’ was the Tate’s headline after the exhibition ended in 2017. This all-encompassing, totally absorbing, stunningly colourful and magnificent exhibition must surely have stirred everyone who saw it, including me, and no doubt led many major collectors to get in quick before the market runs away from them.

George Condo

George Condo

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Of all the figurative painters working today, few if any can match George Condo’s CV for artistic heritage and bragging rights. He worked for Andy Warhol in the ‘Factory’, jammed with and was a friend to Basquiat and now designs albums for Kanye West and handbags for Kim Kardashian.

The Queen, by Condo the work is called ‘Dreams and Nightmares of the Queen’ 2006

Born in Concord, New Hampshire, USA in 1957 Condo’s work spans nearly four decades. He studied Art History and Music at Lowell in Massachusetts before moving to Boston where he worked in a screen-printing shop. He joined a band in Boston called ‘The Girls’, through which he met Basquiat in 1979 while performing on the same bill in his band ‘Gray’. Long story short, Basquiat persuaded Condo to move to NY in 1980 and the rest is history. Condo’s previous screen-printing experience got him the gig in the ‘Factory’ working for Andy Warhol. He worked there for nine months and reportedly only met Warhol once. He was also involved with ‘diamond dusting’ pictures as well as silkscreen-printing. Andy Warhol subsequently bought several paintings from one of Condo’s first NY shows in the early 80’s.

Nude and Forms, the current world record holder, sold at Christie’s NY May 2018, for $6.6 million

Both Warhol and Basquiat where strong artistic influences on Condo’s work at this time. However, over above these two as he emerged as a figurative painter, was and still is, Picasso. A key difference is that unlike Picasso who painted figurative images of real people and things, Condo’s images all emerge from his imagination. In an interview with the Guardian in 2013 he is quoted as saying ‘I describe what I do as Psychological Cubism. Picasso paints the violin from four different perspectives at one moment. I do the same with psychological states; four of them can occur simultaneously. Like glimpsing a bus with one passenger howling over a joke they’re hearing down the phone, someone else asleep, someone else crying – I’ll put them all in one face”.

‘Day of the Idol’ photo courtesy of Sotheby’s, sold twice, Sotheby’s NY May, 2018, $2.7 million , then again at Christie’s NY, November 2019, for $ 3.7 million.

He’s also influenced by old master painters such as Rembrandt and Degas. The colour field and abstract painters such as deKooning and Rothko and will add in elements and colours from these artist’s work into his.

It was Condo who painted Kanye West’s 2013 Christmas gift to Kim – a Hermes Birkin bag featuring three nude women and an angry green monster. Not quite what the couple were expecting, it was once rumoured to have been destroyed. When inevitably it was posted on Instagram, followers were not amused, ‘holy shit balls that’s ugly ‘ said one!

Hermes Birkin exclusive design by George Condo – gifted by Kanye West to Kim Kardashian

Condo moved to Cologne and then Paris where he spent 10 years between 1985 and 1995 remaining entirely focused on imaginary characters until the 2000’s. In 2006 he painted a portrait of the Queen, who has a long neck, gerbil like cheeks and a Crown and he also did the five interchangeable covers for Kanye West’s 2010 album (My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy), one of which appears to depict Kanye naked and straddled by a winged naked female. Prior to this, his imaginary characters would have multiple pairs of eyes, teeth and all sorts of other ‘additions’. Ralph Rugoff, the curator of the 2011 Hayward Gallery Condo retrospective show wrote that Condo’s portraits amounted to an ‘anatomical orgy’.

Red Head sold Philips NY in May 2018 for $ 1.5 million

The Art Market’s response to Condo’s work exploded during the Spring/ Summer sales of 2017 to the same period in 2018. Condo had become perhaps the most coveted artist on the secondary market in those 12 months, thanks to both the tiny quantity of his output and a belief that buying his work was a surefire investment that could or should pay off. Over the 2017/18 period Condo, set and broke his own record at auction three times.

Henry Moore

Henry Moore, Prolific Artist

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Henry Moore was born in Castleford in 1898 into a Yorkshire coal mining family. His rather didactic father felt that his children should never follow him into mining and saw education as the way out.

Reclining Figure, Festival 1951
Bronze, 230 cms wide.
Sold in June 2016 for £24,722,500. This is the current world record price for a Moore bronze

Moore had shown an early talent for sculpting and drawing at junior school and had made numerous very creditable pieces from clay and stone. He passed the entrance exam for Castleford Grammar School at the second attempt thus joining some of his siblings already at the school. The wide breadth of subjects taught there exposed him to medieval sculpture which attracted his interest straight away and he was encouraged to study, copy and draw pieces. He was also asked by the Headmaster to carve a School Society plaque and also a roll of honour for pupils who were serving in World War I.

Reclining Figure, 1982
Bronze, 246 cms wide.
Sold for $11,000,000 in Nov 2017

Moore joined the War effort in 1917, very soon after joining he was gassed and subsequently hospitalised until 1918, thus keeping him safely away from any further hostilities. On leaving military service in 1919, he received a servicemen’s grant which gave him enough money to study Fine Art at Leeds School of art. Between them, Leeds Art Gallery and the School of Art gave him easy access to see and study the many Modern works of art in their respective collections. This had a profound effect on Moore’s personal and artistic development and he became strongly influenced by the work of Brancusi, Jacob Epstein, Henri Gaudier Brzeska and Frank Dobson. These influences pulled Moore towards the almost forgotten traditional carving method known as ‘direct carving’ in which the imperfections of the material and marks left by the carving tools, became part of the finished sculpture, the process is referred to by sculptors as ‘truth to material’ . In actively pursuing this method Moore was resurrecting a then nearly four hundred year old carving tradition stretching back to the Old Master sculptors Canova and Bernini.

Mother and child with apple, 1956
Bronze, 72 cms high.
Sold for £5,010,500 in February 2014

Later in his career when casting his sculpture in bronze, Moore found that in his hands bronze was not an antithesis of stone or wood carving: carving, scraping and grating his plaster models allowed him to create texture in his finished bronzes that matched anything he could achieve in his stone or wood pieces. In fact Moore paid great attention to the patination of his bronzes and supervised the process personally whenever possible, especially on large scale works where it is evident that many of his patinas suggested natural textures and weathering.

Large 4 piece reclining figure, 1972
Bronze, 402 cms high.
Sold $3,300,000 June 2006. Since 2006 prices have increased and I would now expect this piece to make nearer to $10 million

Following his studies at Leeds, Moore moved to Hampstead where he took on part time teaching work at the Royal College of Art while continuing working on his sculpture. He later took up another teaching role at the Chelsea College of Art where he began to develop more abstract work.

He was part of the organising committee for the international surrealist exhibition in London in 1936, where Roland Penrose purchased one of his Moore’s new abstract mother and child works, carved in stone. Penrose displayed his new purchase in the front garden of his house in Hampstead, much to the annoyance of the local residents who ran a two year campaign to remove the piece!
In 1938 Moore met Kenneth Clark who championed his work from this first meeting onwards.

Reclining Figure, 1982
Bronze, 246 cms wide.
Sold for £3,625,250 in Feb 2006. Again the value of this piece has risen significantly since 2006, another from the same cast sold for $11,000,000 in 2018

At the outbreak of the Second World War the Chelsea School of Art was evacuated to Northampton, so Moore resigned his teaching post and began working on powerful drawings of Londoners sleeping on the London underground all commissioned by Kenneth Clark, now the Chairman of the War Artists Advisory committee. When the Moores’ Hampstead home was hit by shrapnel Henry and his wife Irina moved to a farmhouse called Hoglands, set within in a hamlet called Perry Green, just outside Much Hadham in Hertfordshire . This house and the surrounding land became a home, studio, gallery, workshops and display area for his work for the rest of his life. Over time his continued financial success in selling work enabled him to acquire adjoining land nearby and buildings for use as studios and exhibition spaces. This large rural site now houses the Henry Moore Foundation galleries and study centre, where you can take a tour of Hoglands, walk the grounds and gardens, and visit the galleries and studios which are all open to the public.

Family Group,1946
Bronze, 44 cms high.
Sold in June 2017 for £3,861,000. In 2008 another from this same edition sold for $4,000,000

After the war, following several miscarriages Irina had a baby daughter, Mary who was born in March 1946. Two years prior Moore had lost his mother and these two events drew him to focus on one of his most successful and enduring themes, the Mother and Child. Also in 1946 he made his first visit to America to attend a major retrospective of his work held at MOMA in New York. This exhibition was a huge critical and popular success and his fame spread rapidly across the US. He was taken on by an art agent in Los Angeles who advised many Hollywood moguls and actors. His work was bought in quantity by Betty Warner, a very wealthy and influential socialite and collector in LA and the wife of Jack Warner of Warner Brothers pictures was also a strong influencer.

Horse
Bronze, 13.8 cms high.
Sold in March 2020 for £32,500. Horses are rare subject matter for Moore bronzes, however I think this piece is elegant and nicely stylised and offered good value at this price

The last 30 years of Moore’s life were his most productive in every sense, he was incredibly busy making, exhibiting and selling work in all mediums, particularly bronze all around the world.

Mother and Child, 1929
Bronze, 10.2 cms high.
Sold for $5,000 in December 2019. This is the cheapest piece you can find, however its perhaps not the prettiest

By the early 1970’s he was making over £1,200,000 a year in income from sales of art alone. He was probably the first British artist of the 20th century to become a millionaire. However the downside was that as a UK tax payer earning this sort of money he was liable to pay 80% tax on his earnings In fact so significant was his tax bill that in 1972 he was publicly declared the single highest individual tax payer in the entire UK. This warranted a visit to Hoglands by the then Chancellor, Jim Callaghan to acknowledge his tax contribution, I noticed a photo taken of this meeting at Hoglands, Jim Callaghan is smiling broadly, however Moore isn’t looking quite so cheerful having just parted with £960,000 in income tax .

Mother and child, Relief, 1977
Bronze, 38.4 cms.
Sold in November 2019 for $10,000. There are a number of relief bronzes smiler to this which, although unusual, do offer good value.

Henry Moore produced a huge quantity of the highest quality work, particularly bronzes and he has a truly international reputation, so his pieces appear for sale around the globe, all the time. On any given day you can find something new coming up for sale somewhere in the world and I show a few examples below. One of the many truly remarkable facts about the Moore market is just how cheap his tiny bronzes are, in fact prices for bronzes range from as little as £5,000 for a small piece right up to £25 million for the largest pieces. In addition peace of mind is offered to buyers by the carefully curated complete catalogue raisonees listing with reference numbers all his bronzes, unique carvings, drawings and prints from all periods.

Caricature head, 1978
Bronze, 10.1 cm high.
Sold in November 2019 for $15,000

Antique Furniture Valuation

A Chair is a Chair is a Chair; Adventures in Antique Furniture Valuation

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‘…an extremely fine specimen of design, craftsmanship and preservation. The carving … is of very high quality and the chair is exceptional in that it has survived since about 1750 with the patina of age unspoilt by restoration’


This chair was exhibited at the Grosvenor House Antique Fair (which has now essentially been replaced by Masterpiece) in 1954 and described as such then. Tastes have changed little since then. It is currently for sale at the very top end of the London trade for £39,000 having changed hands several times intervening sixty five years.

What makes it Valuable?

The chair does not conform to the usual obvious or traditional categories which define valuable furniture – such as having a famous designer, illustrious maker, or interesting provenance. However, one interesting current trend, illustrated in this instance, is that reputable antique dealers are increasingly quoted as ‘provenance’ for works of art. Historically this was taken to mean the original patron or location for which something was made. The chair is nevertheless clearly a fine example of an exceptional object by virtue of the quality of its manufacture and its original and obviously very attractive patina, or finish, which justifies its price.
But a lesser example of a superficially similar chair might easily be bought for a fraction of the price – hundreds of pounds, rather than thousands. Whether of the same date or a later reproduction this could be £3,900, £390 or even £39 on a bad day for the auctioneer.

When looking at antique furniture, what is important?

Certainly, the designer, maker, provenance, condition but also the form can be relevant, the latter more so with furniture than most other antiques. People can collect paintings or silver or ceramics to a certain extent without having to worry what to do with their purchases but few homes have rooms for limitless amounts of furniture. Its function and size nearly almost plays a part in its value. For instance, someone may buy a set of dining chairs but this is likely to entail selling their existing set. And the way people live has had a significant effect on demand for, and therefore values of, antique furniture – the dining room being a particular victim of increasingly informal lifestyles.
Some types have undoubtedly suffered more than others. Pieces with sloping or folding or hinged tops which do not lend themselves to having things placed on them, such as bureaus, davenports, pembroke tables, card tables; or very large items such as wardrobes, sideboards, dining tables and some bookcases. Even longcase clocks have found themselves out of fashion. Of course, there are always exceptions to this, as with the chair above, but the trend is undeniable.

Brown Furniture

The phrase one hears as a valuer time and again at the moment is that antique furniture (or ‘brown’ furniture) is worthless today. Of course, this is not true, and I can guarantee that if you want to buy something invariably someone else will. But it is true that some items, if they fall into the above categories and are unattractive do have very depressed values (to the point of being almost valueless). And undoubtedly values of many pieces have fallen from the heady days of the early 1980s, often even without allowing for inflation.
By illustration, this modest Georgian mahogany table was purchased from an extremely high quality antique shop in Edinburgh in 1983 for £1,640.

A Georgian mahogany table purchased in Edinburgh in 1983 for £1,640


The table sold at auction recently for about £450. A poor return by any standard. But it was bought by a dealer, who once it has been restored, may sell it for a similar amount to its 1980s figure. That does, however, leave us with the reality that a 1980s insurance valuation, and this is for a fairly useful and attractive little thing, is likely to have parity with a valuation today.
Other items will not have fared as well.

Insurance Valuations may vary

This also illustrates the importance of understanding where items have been purchased and how a client may replace them. That table may have sold for £450 (which means the vendor probably received about £300) at auction and then be offered, restored, for £1500 in a shop. Neither figure is wrong, it is just the context which has changed. This means that if someone shops at local auctions, replacement valuations will be quite different to those of their neighbour who buys similar pieces from London dealers and valuations for insurance purposes should reflect this.
To summarise, when valuing antique furniture there are numerous forces at play. Not only is the piece beautiful but is it useful? Will it fit and be functional in most peoples’ houses? Is it in good condition, is its finish attractive? Does it have history in terms of designer, maker, provenance? And finally where was it bought and would the owner replace it from a similar source?

Out of the Closet – are your clothes insured adequately?

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As a general valuer, I still find it remarkable that the most shut off and private room of the house, is usually the one that hides the biggest mistakes, faux pas, successes, lucky finds – and ultimately valuable items in the property.

The humble wardrobe has for years been the item that comes last in a hierarchy of importance throughout the home – after paintings, sculpture and antiques it would almost seem vulgar to add up those collections of cashmere jumpers and boxed sets of Agent Provocateur underwear that you haven’t quite found the right time for.


So why is the wardrobe often overlooked? One could argue that accumulation plays a big part in this – if a client spends £2000 on a coat, would they contact their broker? Maybe not, but after five years of a new winter warmer every year, that figure starts to rise rapidly…also clothing just being a functional item went out in The Stone Age, clothes have been about style, exclusivity, and quality for centuries and that has created a fairly modern phenomenon – the clothes collector.

Whilst we all have items in the closet that hardly ever get used (for me it is a pair of trainers, used exclusively from January 1st – 7th annually, and a rather ill-advised pale blue suit bought for a garden party in the mid noughties) there are clients of mine that seasonally will spend over £100,000 on clothing and it will only be worn once or twice – this isn’t unusual, and strangely it seems to be becoming more common.

If you haven’t read my previous article on Birkin handbags, please do – it will give you an insight into this fascinating subject and go some distance to explaining why these items receive so much attention and earth-shattering prices. Shoes for many people fall into a similar category of not just simple things that you purchase and wear, but footwear that is lusted after, desired, and envied.

With all of these things considered, does that mean that every HNW client has £1,000,000 of clothing – no, but what it does mean is that a lot of these clients have not considered that the suit they had made at Henry Poole will no longer cost them £2,000, and that pair of Ferragamo’s may have even doubled since they bought them before that cruise, even a simple pair of jeans is almost £100 these days, and I wonder how many people have factored in swimwear or scarves?

What is very clear is that today’s collectables can be displayed, or worn and they all can still change value at an astonishing rate and need to be reviewed regularly. One of my current favourite trends is the astonishing market for rare basketball sneakers (that’s trainers in English) where the secondary market surpasses even Rolex for the biggest increase in value as soon as they walk, or at least are carried out of the shop.

Whilst a valuer cannot go through every drawer in a dressing room, it’s important to establish the client’s taste and style. Getting to know the client and their spending habits is vital to an accurate valuation – that and a keen eye for a pair of Gucci loafers…

Hermes Birkin Handbag

Hermes – Birkin Handbags

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20th Century Iconic Art, without the Baggage

A handbag is by definition an item of luggage that carries one’s items in a simple and yet practical manner. However, in the world of designer and haute couture pieces, it’s much, much more than that.

In the last 20 years, collecting has waned in numerous fields, long gone are the days when that ultra-desirable piece of porcelain from Eastern Germany caused a furore in the auction world… there are however a new breed of collectors who consider exclusivity, style and quality to be of a far higher imperative than age or other factors.

The best place to start with any overview of handbags is the classic Birkin by Hermes. Whilst it is nowhere near the oldest, or most original bag on the market – it defines what has become the phenomenon of collecting what many might consider to be an everyday item.

Hermes Classic Birkin 35

The Birkin was originally designed by Jean-Louis Dumas in the early 1980s and named after the English actress and sometime muse of Serge Gainsbourg, Jane Birkin. Designed to contain all that a lady needed from make up to a hairbrush, and no doubt a few packets of Gauloises.

Since its initial launch the Birkin has become what can only be described as the near definition of a Veblen item, with demand far outstripping availability. It was an instant investment from day one and many collectors now long for those early bags that represented the ethos of the Birkin, in maybe its purest form.

When looking at collections of handbags, one is often struck by the lack of use that these items actually have. I have clients that purchase a £25,000 bag for Royal Ascot, and it will see the light of day for maybe 12 hours at most, then become relegated to the ‘also ran’ shelf at the back of the undoubtably extensive wardrobe.

Hermes Birkin exclusive design by George Condo – gifted by Kanye West to Kim Kardashian

What still shocks me, and usually the owners of these glamorous items, is their ever-increasing values. The most basic, (if the word ‘basic’ should ever be applied to a Birkin), usually increases by at least 15% each year. The very nature of the way that these are produced means that replacing an item, like for like, is pretty much impossible unless you can find one on the ever increasing (but often over inflated) secondary collectible handbag market.

Naturally, over the years bags that have been long since discontinued have gained an almost legendary, mythical status with some exotic skin models reaching astronomical figures, well into the £100,000s bracket. What’s strange is that there are still some bags out there that were purchased still in private collections that are used every day, and the owners have no idea of their potential value.

As a valuer I see, on a weekly basis, these iconic, almost legendary pieces of artwork relegated to a general contents category when it comes to insurance, when in fact they exemplify a modern collectible – certainly not just baggage.

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Graff Jewellery, Following a Passion

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The House of Graff approach making jewellery from a slightly different angle than their more traditional rivals. For them it is all about the gemstones themselves. As they say on their website:
‘Imagine dedicating your life to discovering the world’s most remarkable diamonds and gemstones, a treasure hunt that takes you to all corners of the globe, in search of these elusive wonders. This quest has consumed the Graff family ever since the House was founded almost 60 years ago, and continues to do so today’

The story behind Graff is one of vision, determination and focus. Laurence Graff did what we all should do in life: he followed his passion, dared to dream big and believed in himself.

The Graff Lesedi La Rona Diamond

He started out working as an apprentice in a workshop in Hatton Garden when he was 15 years old. It is said that naysayers tried to discourage him but Graff didn’t listen. He believed he was born to work with diamonds. He not only worked with them, he studied them and seemed to develop an innate understanding of all gemstones. In 1960, aged 24 he founded Graff diamonds and within a couple of years two shops had opened in London. He took his stunning jewellery creations around the world to exhibitions and to showcase to potential clients in their palaces and private yachts. Graff soon began to develop a global reputation and his pieces became highly sought after. There are now over forty shops worldwide and Laurence Graff is said to have handled more important diamonds than any other ‘diamantaire’ this century.


What makes Graff jewellery so special is that they pride themselves on being part of the whole process of jewellery making. From the responsible sourcing of beautiful gem crystals to the meticulous cutting and polishing to optimise their colour and brilliance. With their incredible combination of pioneering technology and age old jewellery making techniques their designers and craftspeople create sculptural works of art. It is all about perfection. As Laurence Graff said himself:
‘No stage is bypassed. No shortcuts are taken. Only perfection matters.’

It’s such a treat to look into a Graff shop window because there is always a dazzling display. They have handled some of the rarest, the largest and most beautiful gems in existence, encompassing them in magical jewellery designs and really honouring these wonders of nature.

Last year they unveiled The Graff Lesedi La Rona Diamond, the world’s largest square emerald cut diamond weighing 302.37cts. It is the largest highest colour and clarity diamond ever certificated by the GIA. It took 18 months to extract and sculpt this record breaking gem from the 1,109ct rough crystal.

Other amazing gems in their collection include the Golden Empress, an intense yellow cushion cut diamond weighing 132.55cts and the Graff Pink, is a vivid pink, internally flawless diamond of 23.88cts.

Graff’s philosophy is the same across all of their jewellery collections. As a jewellery valuer it’s a privilege to be able to examine and appraise such beautiful creations. It comes as no surprise that the price of such jewels continues to rise.

Ruby and diamond earrings and pendant from The Lotus Collection. Originally purchased in 2015 for £102,750. To replace them today would cost £128,500

Earlier this year I was lucky enough to value these stunning ruby and diamond earrings and pendant from The Lotus Collection. They were originally purchased in 2015 for £102,750. To replace them today would cost £128,500. That’s quite a significant increase over a five year period. When was the last time your jewellery was professionally valued? Do the values on your spreadsheet really reflect the increase in the price of gold, diamonds and coloured gems, not to mention the rise in manufacturing costs? Or is the figure just a random percentage increase which may lead to a shortfall in compensation in the event of loss? Surely it’s not worth the risk, especially when it comes to such magnificent pieces as these.

Fine Wine – Domaine de la Romanee-Conti

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I had intended to give an up-to-date analysis of auction results for Fine Wine, but Covid-19 put paid to that . It is an indiscriminate bug ! So, instead, I am going to share some musings on arguably the finest and purest expression of the Pinot Noir grape, which, by the way, comes in more than 1,400 different clones. La Romanee-Conti, owned by Domaine de la Romanee-Conti (always affectionately known as DRC).

When Clive Coates published his classic ‘ Cote d’Or ‘ in 1997, he warned ‘ If you can lay your hands on a case [of La Romanee-Conti] and it is a big ‘if’- you would have to pay £5,000 or more for a young vintage, double or treble for a wine in its prime.’ Recessions have come and gone, world banking crises have been overcome and Red Burgundy, in particular wines by Henri Jayer and DRC have risen inexorably in value. Why is this? Obviously this is in part due to the excellence of the wine, produced from very old vines growing on a perfect terroir, but it has a lot to do with scarcity. La Romanee-Conti is minute, 1.8 hectares, producing around 400 cases of wine a year, which means that only a few thousand people can own a bottle in any one vintage and there are strict allocations. Every bottle is numbered, so that the owners can track any that come onto the open market. Romanee-Conti is a Grand Cru and despite its size, has its own Appellation.

By 2015, when a rare case of 12 appeared at auction, it was usually estimated at £80-120,000. Odd bottles appeared more frequently, priced more modestly at £4-5,000. As you can see, there is a premium attached to untouched cases. The rise continues. Bonhams sold a case of six bottles of the 1988 vintage for £107,550 in September of last year and a case of twelve for just under £ 250,000. In the space of twenty-two years, bottles are more valuable than cases of twelve were when Clive Coates went to press. To put this in perspective, a case of Chateau Latour, from the much-vaunted 2010 vintage would make £10,000 at auction. Romanee-Conti is in a league of its own.


When I was last at DRC, five years ago, with a friend who was collecting thirteen mixed bottles from the DRC’s six world-famous holdings (his annual allocation), the owner Aubert de Villaine was in the middle of a group ‘selfie’ surrounded by young Chinese enthusiasts. Chinese involvement at the top end of the wine market has certainly added to the price rise.

So go to your cellar, the stair cupboard or wherever you keep your wine and look for the dustiest bottles. If, by some good fortune, you discover some red Burgundy you had forgotten about, take a clear photograph of the label, make a note of where the level of the wine comes to on the neck or shoulder of the bottle when upright and send it to us and we can give you a rough guide as to its value, assuming it has been stored correctly. The dramatic rise in the value of La Romanee-Conti has had a beneficial effect on many of its neighbours.

Is it Time to Update Your Jewellery Insurance Valuation?

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A pair of platinum and diamond ‘Victoria’ ear studs

We have chosen four items of jewellery from four of the top manufacturing brands – items that have been in production virtually unchanged for nearly 20 years – unchanged that is except for the price to demonstrate how important a regular jewellery insurance valuation is!

The price of gold in 2003 was about $450 per ounce and it’s about $1510 per ounce today having peaked around 2012 at $1750 per ounce – so the roughly 350% rise in bullion price over the period in question is a price increase factor but a surprisingly small one in gem set pieces like these. The Cartier ring is quite a chunky piece, but its basic bullion value today is probably about £400 as opposed to approximately £125 in 2003. OK, the VAT rate has risen from 17.5% to 20% in the same period but again that’s had a pretty small effect on the retail price, so that leaves gem stone prices, manufacturing costs and retail profit mark ups as the main ‘culprits’ for the 2.5/3 times price increases.


Van Cleef and Arpels.

An 18 carat yellow gold and mother o’pearl 20 motif Vintage Alhambra necklace.
2004 £6,210
2012 £10,800
2021 £13,700

Diamond prices for good commercial grade stones which these top manufacturing brands would use have largely stalled over the past few years; it’s only the highest quality and rare coloured stones which hit the headlines with their huge prices. And we’re all waiting to see what the effect on retail prices will be when the full impact of the introduction of synthetic diamonds is felt. Also to be taken into account is the effect that internet has had on diamond prices. There are numerous well-established and reliable web sites making available to all millions of unmounted stones at basically ‘trade prices’ (plus VAT) and most with recognised laboratory certificates. The ‘closed shop’ trade only which has prevailed in the jewellery business for centuries is breaking down. The coloured stone market is swamped with cheap, very heavily treated and colour enhanced rubies, sapphires and emeralds that come mainly from the Far East. Another factor is the huge increase in the use of coloured stones that 20 years ago would have been classified as ‘semi-precious’ but are now appearing at serious stone prices. The stones that have shown a huge increase in price over the past 10 or so years have been natural untreated sapphires, rubies and emeralds – but the stones have to have an independent laboratory certificate stating they are natural colour and untreated to come in to this category. A few exceptional stones of this type – mainly in pretty 1920/1940’s period pieces – have fetched more per carat than decent comparable size commercial grade diamonds.


Cartier.

An 18 carat white gold, diamond and emerald Panthere ring
2003 £26,000
2010 £42,100
2021 £73,500

Manufacturing and jewellery workshop costs in Europe have certainly risen sharply over the past 20 years – as anyone who has had to have jewellery items repaired will know. Nearly all items are still hand made or finished so the cost of making up of jewellery is a big factor in the resulting retail price. The exception to this being the type of items available from online sites and lower grade retailers that are mass produced in the Far and Middle East – usually pretty poor-quality workmanship and poor-coloured stones. The second-hand and auction market for jewellery of this type is very weak – so don’t expect to cover the cost of your Far Eastern travels if you try to sell your purchases back in the UK.

Chopard.

A pair of 18 carat white gold and diamond ‘Happy Diamond’ drop earrings.
2003 £1,875
2011 £3,120
2021 £4,290

Profit marks up are a big variable – about 30 years ago when I was first involved with jewellery the tacitly accepted mark-up was to double the cost price and add VAT. Now, for a retail shop mark-up can be a whopping 300% to 350% plus VAT. But don’t be too harsh on the retailer – he has frightening fixed overheads and outgoings, and jewellery can be slow moving stock. Also, some jewellery and watch manufacturers do dictate a fixed retail price to the shop for their products. But it’s always worth a little haggle!!

Tiffany.

A pair of platinum and diamond ‘Victoria’ ear studs
2003 £3,100
2010 £4,925
2021 £8,775

If you had bought any of the four illustrated items back in the very early 2000’s at these prices and had applied an across the board annual percentage increase to cover insurance you might well have ended up in trouble in the event of a claim due to the variable cost factor increases. We recommend a review of a jewellery insurance valuation every 3 years. A desktop revaluation is fully acceptable within this timeframe, but a complete revaluation at 5 years especially as the valuation would include a close examination of the condition of claws, clasps and links, is something more and more insurers and brokers now insist on.

I’m afraid I must end on a cautionary few lines. Most of the big brand names like the ones above suffer from faking and copying. Allegedly more Van Cleef and Arpels Alhambra jewellery has been made in the Middle and Far East than in France!!. All the brands we have illustrated are meticulous in their marking and all their products will have a brand name and in most cases also reference and individual serial numbers, so if you’re shopping for some big name goodies on your Eastern travels be sure to take a good magnifying glass with you!

How many 00’s in a pair of 007’s cufflinks?

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When embarking on a valuation, a valuer never knows what they will see and sometimes it’s the little, seemingly lower value items at the bottom of the jewellery box that are the most surprising.
I was asked to do a valuation for a large quantity of jewellery and watches. After appraising all the diamond and gem set pieces and the significant collection of watches, there was just an assortment of silver cufflinks remaining. I decided to value them in groups, starting with the designer ones: Tiffany & Co, Tom Ford, Cartier. I imagined they would be £200- £300 a pair. However this was not the case.

Later, when I started to do my research I discovered that Tom Ford do not sell silver cufflinks. The pair in question were oval in outline with a mother of pearl panel and the engraved initials ‘JB’. Apparently Tom Ford had specially manufactured four pairs of these cufflinks for the James Bond movie Spectre. One of these pairs had been sold at the Christies Spectre auction in 2016 for £74,500!

Needless to say I nearly fell off my chair! I re-contacted the client and asked for some information about the provenance of these cufflinks. Had they been purchased at auction? The response was ‘no they were a gift from Barbara Broccoli’.

In the article it mentioned that EON Productions had the two other pairs of cufflinks stored in their archives, so I decided to contact them. They were incredibly helpful and replied to my email almost immediately. They confirmed that Tom Ford had produced the cufflinks for the movie at a cost of £300 per pair. They had two pairs in their archives insured for the value of £3000 each. One pair had been gifted to a friend by the producers and one pair had been sold at auction for £74,500.

So what is the value of these cufflinks – £300, £3000 or £74,500? If the client decided to sell them at auction it could be argued that they would command £74,000 again, maybe even more. Movie memorabilia is highly desirable and sought after, especially when it comes to James Bond.

I explained my findings to the client and it was decided that an Agreed Value should be placed on these cufflinks, a value that the client and insurance company were comfortable with, that would be paid out if anything should happen to the cufflinks.

It was such a fascinating valuation. It really highlighted the fact that many clients have been gifted items of jewellery and they have absolutely no idea of their value, let alone have them listed for insurance purposes. When was the last time you had the contents of your jewellery box professionally reviewed? Diamonds may be forever, but be careful not to overlook the other treasures.