SYDNEY: The late Austrian millionaire Heidi Horten’s collection of hundreds of jewels sold for 179.9 million Swiss francs ($201 million), making it the most expensive private jewellery collection ever to be offered at auction.
The sale broke a previous record set by Elizabeth Taylor’s collection, whose diamonds garnered about $116 million in New York in 2011.
Jewish organisations expressed concerns about the source of Horten’s money, but last week’s auction went on as planned. When she passed away in June of last year, Forbes estimated that the late art collector had a net worth of almost $3 billion. She had inherited $1 billion from her first husband, Helmut Horten, who had passed away in 1987. According to Christie’s, the German industrialist bought Jewish companies that had been forced to be sold during the Nazi era.
The auction was to be postponed until “a serious effort” was made to look into the Hortens’ wealth, according to a request from the American Jewish Committee. In a statement released earlier this month, the group referred to Helmut Horten as one of the “unscrupulous businessmen” who “took advantage of Aryanization laws and the desperate needs of Jews fleeing the Nazis.”
An online auction that ended on Monday was held together with the two-day sale, which took place last week at the Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues in Geneva, Switzerland. There will be a second online auction in November. Over 700 jewels made up Horten’s collection, which Christie’s initially estimated would fetch more than $150 million at auction.
Although the collection ended up exceeding expectations, several of the expensive products underperformed. Despite Christie’s expecting bids as high as 18 million Swiss francs ($20 million), the most valuable lot, a ruby and diamond Cartier ring that is “pigeon blood” in color, only brought in a little over 13 million Swiss francs ($14.5 million). Harry Winston’s 90-carat “Briolette of India” diamond necklace sold less than expected, for 6.3 million Swiss francs ($7 million).
However, a Bulgari diamond ring more than doubled its high estimate to fetch 9.1 million Swiss francs ($10.1 million). Other jewels on sale included items from luxury names such as Tiffany and Van Cleef & Arpels.
Horten’s father was an engraver; thus, she was exposed to the fascination of beautiful things at a young age. According to the auction house, her passion for jewellery and art grew after her marriage. Later, she accumulated various ornamental, modern, and contemporary works of art, some of which are displayed in her museum.
