The global auction market for gems and jewels defied Trump-era tariffs, a cooling art market, and other economic headwinds to deliver robust results across categories and regions in 2025.

“Surprisingly positive” is how Quig Bruning — Sotheby’s head of jewels for the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa — described auction sales and buyer sentiment as of late November. “Demand outstripping supply was absolutely the case for jewelry. And it was global.”

White-glove results abounded last year. The December 5 Sotheby’s jewelry and watch auction in Abu Dhabi — its first such sale in the Emirati city — was one example, with all 42 lots finding buyers. Leading its jewelry portion was the Desert Rose, a 31.68-carat, fancy-vivid-orangy-pink diamond that fetched more than $8.8 million — a new auction record for a diamond of that color, and well above its $7 million high estimate.

The Christie’s Geneva Magnificent Jewels auction in May also saw 100% sell-through, totaling over $72.3 million; of the 115 lots, 77% sold above their high estimates. A month later, the auction house’s 138-lot Magnificent Jewels sale in New York achieved another white-glove result at $87.7 million in total.

Other successes included the Phillips Geneva Jewels Auction: V on November 10, where a collection of Vanderbilt family jewels sold in its entirety. The highlight was the Vanderbilt sapphire, a 42.68-carat Kashmir stone in a Belle Époque Tiffany & Co. brooch that brought in nearly $3.6 million.

In total, the jewelry department at Sotheby’s brought in $317.7 million during 2025, an increase of 18% from 2024.

Annual results for Christie’s were not available as of press time, but “early indicators suggest strong participation and healthy sell‑through rates, consistent with or exceeding 2024,” according to jewelry head Max Fawcett. “We expect to achieve a sell‑through rate in the region of 87% to 89%, with approximately 60% of lots selling above estimates and another 30% within estimates. This reflects a healthy market and a strong appetite for fine and rare jewels.”

Younger energy

The year’s results also reflect how the major auction houses have leveraged online platforms and targeted digital marketing to attract a broader and younger global clientele in the past few years. This diversity has made the jewelry-auction sector more resilient to geopolitical uncertainty and external shocks, including the widespread issue of tariffs.

“We are seeing strong growth year over year, specifically in Hong Kong,” reports Benoît Repellin, worldwide head of jewelry at Phillips. “Younger buyers in the region are increasingly sophisticated and engaged. They are not just buying luxury pieces, but are truly collecting.”

When it comes to online bidding, adds Bruning, “the quantity and quality [are] just growing exponentially, and it’s from places that we wouldn’t expect. It’s democratizing your buyer base.… People are bidding sight unseen, without any kind of conversation, and up to very, very high levels.”

Bonhams global jewelry head Jean Ghika has also noticed rising interest among younger buyers for jewels, watches, fashion and handbags. “These segments are performing exceptionally well with buyers under 35, reflecting evolving tastes, lifestyle preferences and new entry points into collecting,” she says.

Christie’s has “adapted to this evolving landscape by expanding our online sales and focusing our live auctions on around 100 top‑quality pieces,” relates Fawcett, pointing to the white-glove Geneva and New York sales as proof of the latter strategy’s success.

Diamonds of any (and no) color

For more than 15 years, fancy-color diamonds — especially pinks and blues — have dominated the top end of the market. That trend continued in 2025, though there were three notable withdrawals from the year’s auctions.

The Glowing Rose, a 10.08-carat, fancy-vivid-pink diamond with an estimate of $20 million, was withdrawn shortly before the November 12 Sotheby’s High Jewelry sale in Geneva. Phillips also removed a ring with a 6.95-carat, fancy-vivid-purplish-pink diamond, worth an estimated $9 million, from its November Geneva auction. In April, Christie’s withdrew the 23.24-carat Golconda Blue, which it had valued at $50 million and touted as the largest fancy-vivid-blue diamond ever to go up for public auction. The owners chose to keep the gem within the family, Christie’s said.

Despite these cancellations, rare colored diamonds remained the year’s strongest performers. The top lot of 2025 was the 9.51-carat Mellon Blue, which sold for $25.6 million at Christie’s Geneva in November. Close behind was the Mediterranean Blue, a 10.03-carat, fancy-vivid-blue diamond that sold for $21.5 million at Sotheby’s Geneva in May. And the leading lot of the May Christie’s Geneva auction was a ring featuring a 6.24-carat, fancy-deep-blue diamond that sold for more than $12.7 million.

Colorless diamonds held their own during a challenging year. While there were no record-setting results, sales were steady. One highlight from the December High Jewelry sale at Sotheby’s New York was a Harry Winston ring featuring the Jonker VI diamond. The emerald-cut, 22.85-carat stone came from the legendary 726-carat Jonker rough and fetched more than $2 million, beating estimates.

Historic pieces in the headlines

Among the year’s biggest stories was the soaring demand for jewels with historical provenance. A diamond brooch that once belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte made headlines in November when it sold for nearly $4.4 million — over 15 times its high estimate — at the Sotheby’s Royal & Noble Jewels sale in Geneva. Featuring an oval, 13.04-carat diamond in a double diamond surround, the circular brooch reportedly adorned the French emperor’s bicorne hat and was later seized after the battle of Waterloo.

“For me, the sale of Napoleon’s ‘lost’ diamond brooch was the standout moment of 2025,” says Greg Kwiat, owner of diamond jeweler Kwiat and estate dealer Fred Leighton. “Collectors and history-lovers are willing to pay extraordinary prices to own a true piece of history.”

Antique jewelry continued its resurgence. “Victorian, silver and gold, [and] Belle Epoque are very much back,” says Ariel Saidian of jeweler Joseph Saidian & Sons. “Especially [pieces] with interesting provenance, such as Napoleon’s brooch.”

Another storied item was the top lot at the Christie’s New York auction in June: the 10.38-carat Marie-Thérèse Pink diamond, which may once have belonged to Marie Antoinette. Its latest iteration, in a JAR ring, fetched more than $13.9 million — nearly double its high estimate.

“Signature pieces representative of an era sold very well,” Repellin reports. “The centenary of the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes sparked renewed demand for authentic Art Deco jewels, and there has also been a massive, renewed interest in Belle Epoque and Gilded Age jewels.”

Kashmirs kick the competition

The market for colored gems was exceptionally strong, with prices getting a boost from high-quality stones and the surge in historic and signed jewels. Kashmir sapphires led the category, followed by Colombian emeralds and Burmese rubies.

A top highlight was the Royal Blue necklace, which featured 16 Kashmir sapphires totaling 104.61 carats and sold for more than $16.1 million at the Christie’s November Hong Kong auction. It broke the world auction record for a Kashmir-sapphire necklace and became Asia’s most valuable auction jewel for 2025. The Regent Kashmir, a ring with a 35.09-carat sapphire, sold for $9.6 million at Christie’s Hong Kong in May, while several Kashmir sapphires saw strong results at the auction house’s December sale in New York. Among them was the sale’s number-two lot, a pair of sapphire and diamond earrings that fetched more than $3 million.

The value of a signature

Signed jewels, particularly from private collections, were also in demand during 2025. However, Fawcett has observed a difference in priorities between established collectors and younger buyers: The former “continue to pursue vintage masterpieces, while younger collectors gravitate toward the more wearable collections these houses produced in the late 1960s and 1970s.”

One of the year’s headline results was a Tiffany & Co. diamond necklace centering a triangular modified brilliant-cut, 13.54-carat Paraiba tourmaline from Brazil. It raked in more than $4.2 million — seven times its high estimate — becoming the top seller in the 152-lot, $46.5 million Christie’s New York sale in December. The same sale saw the Rockefeller Kashmir, a Cartier Art Deco ring with a 17.66-carat sugarloaf cabochon sapphire, bring in more than $2.6 million.

“The biggest names, like Van Cleef & Arpels, Cartier and Suzanne Belperron, consistently performed well,” Kwiat says.

At the Sotheby’s A Legacy of Elegance sale in December — another white-glove event, totaling $30 million — all 12 of the JAR pieces on offer exceeded their upper estimates, as did 22 of 24 jewels by Suzanne Belperron. The top lot was a Boucheron necklace with seven cushion-shaped rubies, which sold for more than $1.2 million.

Saidian names Van Cleef as “clearly the strongest heritage brand,” though “vintage Bulgari has steadily [shown] the largest price increases in the past 10 years.”

To wit, a 1961 Bulgari ring that once belonged to Elizabeth Taylor, featuring a marquise brilliant-cut, 2.62-carat, fancy-vivid-yellow diamond, beat estimates at the Christie’s December New York sale when it fetched $215,900.

Main image: A Boucheron ruby and diamond necklace, the top lot at one of the December Sotheby’s sales in New York. (Sotheby’s)