Collecting looks and feels different in the modern age. This change is being led by auction houses, which are tapping into a contemporary approach and appetite for special, exceptional pieces. At Sotheby’s, the world’s most established auctioneer founded in 1744, that’s shaping up with Luxury Week, an upcoming series of auctions to be held first in Hong Kong, then in Geneva, London, Paris and New York.
This new approach combines modernity with tradition, through both live and online sales. It’s a response to collectors engaging with both the traditional in-person auction experience as well as sales conducted online. The Luxury Week sales will span a specialist-curated lineup of high and fine jewellery, watches, handbags, real estate, wine and spirits. On the high jewellery front, Sotheby’s has assembled a remarkable selection of treasures.
The star lot this season is, without a doubt, the De Beers Jwaneng 28.88 diamond. It’s being offered by the auction house in partnership with De Beers, which unearthed the exceptional gemstone from the famous Jwaneng diamond mine in Botswana. The diamond is a Type IIa, the chemically purest kind, with D-colour and Flawless clarity grades—a rare combination of the most supremely desirable traits in a colourless diamond. Its original form as a 114.83-carat rough stirred anticipation when it was first unearthed, and now that it’s been revealed as a superb 28.88-carat unmounted round brilliant, it’s surely Sotheby’s diamond of the season.
Coloured diamonds often feature as top lots at auction. The reason is simple: the immense rarity and beauty of coloured diamonds make them intrinsically collectible. Sotheby’s leading stones this season are a pair of blue and pink diamond rings. The former is set with a 7.63-carat cushion-shape Fancy Blue diamond, a stone with a look of crystalline purity and a VVS1 clarity grade. The latter ring is set with a 4.63-carat Fancy Intense Purplish Pink diamond, a gem with a saturated colour and purple undertones. It’s mounted in platinum, and enhanced with oval, step-, rose-, and brilliant-cut diamonds, to be offered No Reserve, ensuring full competitive momentum and will be awarded to the highest bidder.
In addition to diamonds, coloured gemstones are seeing a surge in demand. Some of the rarest include Kashmir sapphires, which are the finest kind of sapphire. They’re perennially in demand because the mines they came from have long been depleted. The best have an intense blue colour, with a velvety look thanks to microscopic needle-like inclusions dubbed ‘silk’. This season, Sotheby’s presents an impressive 15.33-carat Kashmir sapphire ring, untreated with no indication of heating. Highly collectible for its exceptional clarity, impressive size, and alluring velvety blue colour—an irresistible combination of beauty and rarity.
One other rare and esteemed gemstone with a provenance that commands attention is Colombian emeralds. Colombia is said to produce the world’s finest emeralds with the loveliest, most attractive and saturated verdant colours. Emeralds are unique among gemstones because each one tends to have inclusions. While this is generally considered a flaw for most other gemstones, in emeralds this is dubbed a ‘jardin‘, or garden, and taken as a marker of a stone’s individuality and personality. Matching emeralds in a finished jewel, therefore, takes an extra dimension of artistic finesse.
A prime example: a pair of emerald and diamond ear clips, mount by the famed New York jeweller Harry Winston in its classic cluster style. It features an arrangement of pear-, round-, and emerald-cut gems, and two centre emeralds—with 21.60 and 21.11 carats of Colombian emeralds in the design.
Beyond collectible investment-grade stones, Sotheby’s high jewellery auctions are also a fabulous source of signed icons of jewellery design. It can sometime be the case that a motif or a design signature is so vastly explored by a maison or maker that discerning what is worth collecting is difficult. That’s when the expertise of an auctioneer’s jewellery department comes into play. Case in point: the Tutti Frutti signature of Cartier, a leaves-and-berries design style of carved rubies, sapphires and emeralds that merge Mughal inspiration with Parisian elegance. It’s an instantly recognisable style that the maison began producing in the 1920s, and a high jewellery connoisseur’s must-have.
Sotheby’s has a star lot this season in a rare Cartier Tutti Frutti necklace. It combines two icons of Cartier design: an embracing pair of diamond pavé ‘Love Birds’ parrots decorated with emerald eyes and onyx beaks, surrounded by a garden-like composition of carved ruby, emerald and sapphire Tutti Frutti leaves and berries and a briolette diamond pendant at its end. The necklace is strung on a triple-strand of emerald beads, with a profusion of diamonds and carved rubies, emeralds, and sapphires set on the clasp in the back—quintessential Cartier through and through.
And what would a conversation about collectible luxury be without an Hermès bag in the mix? The Parisian house stands as a major status symbol, and its prized leather bags double as cultural markers of luxury. That’s apparent in how Birkin and Kelly bags have become personal investments for collectors, with values that have the potential to grow over time. Rare, special edition designs by Hermès are valued even more so, and are collectibles in their own right.
It makes sense, then, that Hermès bags are sometimes treated almost like vintage heirlooms. That lasting value is part of what makes the French house such a natural fit for the auction space, where each sale can surface rare objects of desire. That’s the case with Sotheby’s upcoming sales, with a compelling selection of Hermès leather creations that might just satisfy every kind of collector appetite, whether it’s a first trophy bag or a hunt for something truly special and unusual.
Leading the Hermès lots at Sotheby’s Spring season is a rare, limited edition Broderie Collage Kelly 25 Sellier with palladium hardware that’s making its global auction debut. The bag is crafted from black Swift leather, with a patched leather marquetry design of exotic alligator and crocodile leather panels in Vert Emeraude, Tabac Camel, Ternor, Bougainvillea and Beton colours. It’s an unusual combination of both alligator and crocodile skins that demonstrates Hermès’s artisanal prowesses, and highly sought-after since it was introduced in 2025.
There is also a pair of shearling-accented suede Teddy Kelly bags that put a soft, cushy twist on the classic elegance of Hermès. Where the classic Kelly is stately and august, these limited edition Teddy variants have a less oft-seen après-ski look. First introduced during Jean Paul Gaultier’s tenure at the house, these are produced in very small numbers and true collector’s items that definitely draw attention. The first is a Mini Kelly II, crafted from Chamois Grizzly suede leather in the Gris Caillou shade, with Etoupe Swift calfskin accents and palladium hardware. The second is a Teddy Kelly 35 Retourne with palladium hardware, crafted in Veau Doblis suede with Ebene Box accents.
For collectors who are looking for a combination of Hermes’s sublime craftsmanship and whimsy, there are few designs more emblematic than the Kelly Doll. Jean-Louis Dumas introduced this whimsical, toy-like interpretation of the Kelly in 2000, and its playful look has become a lighthearted, off-beat favourite for chic events. Sotheby’s has a pair of Kelly Doll bags in almost inverted colourways that call to be taken as a pair. One is a 2025 creation in Bleu Tie and Caban Swift calfskin, and the other is a 2024 crafted from Blue Indigo and Bleu Royal Swift calfskin. Masterpieces of leather craftsmanship, Kelly Doll bags are made extra special with a touch of the revered French house’s sense of humour.
Sotheby’s High Jewellery live auction takes place on 23 April; the online auction of Fine Jewellery will run from 15 to 29 April; and the online auction of Handbags and Accessories will run from 14 to 28 April. Discover these pieces at the exhibition preview from 15 to 22 April at the Sotheby’s Maison in Hong Kong’s Landmark Chater.
