The value of jewellery has risen in recent years because of the changing value of precious metals—gold has quadrupled in price over the past ten years, says Andrew Davies, the senior risk surveyor at the insurance company AXA Art. The UK-based, American-born collector Lily Atherton Hanbury, who is also a private client adviser at Phillips auction house, is drawn to individual pieces, rather than specific periods: “My initial interests were in the Indian influence and Egyptian Revival at Cartier in the 1920s,” she says. “In learning about Art Deco jewellery, I discovered the more architectural designs of Jean Després, René Boivin and Suzanne Belperron.” A 1930s silver and gold necklace by Després recently sold for $92,500 (est $75,000-$100,000) at Sotheby’s New York in 2012.
The Florida-based dealer and collector Matthew Bain started collecting watches in the late 1980s and now has more than 100, mostly vintage. “I like wearing them and the feel of them,” he says. “Buy it if you like it” is his collecting mantra, though he says that most of his clients believe “investment quality watches are a plus”. Last November, Christie’s Geneva staged a 50-lot auction celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Rolex Daytona and sold 100% of the works for a total SFr12m ($13.2m). “At some point, I’ve owned most of the watches consigned to that sale,” Bain says.
The Singapore-based doctor Gordon Ku owns at least 15,000 bottles of wine. He started his so-called “Apothecary” collection in the early 1970s when he joined a wine society in London; he now stores many of his wines in three cellars at his Singapore residence. Last year, Christie’s Hong Kong offered 726 lots from Ku’s collection, focusing on Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rhône and Champagne (the sale total was HK$29.8m/$3.9m, with 96% sold by lot). Asian connoisseurs are fuelling the market: at a Christie’s auction last year of Burgundy wines consigned by the Hong Kong tycoon Henry Tang, the top lots reportedly went to Asian buyers. Writing in the Los Angeles Times, Walter Hamilton said: “Wine, of course, is the ultimate illiquid asset. Investors must hold bottles for a minimum of five years.” He adds, however, that the market has become overheated for grand names such as Château Lafite Rothschild.
Originally appeared in The Art Newspaper as 'The collectors'