Christie’s London Summer Luxury Sales fetched a combined total of £10.54 million ($13.48 million) for handbags, wine and jewels. 

Of the 886 lots offered across the three auctions held over June 8 to 13, 345 lots sold or were directly underbid by online clients. 

Those registered to bid came from 25 countries and participated in person, by telephone and strongly via online in the three auctions. 

The top lot of the Important Jewels auction was a 10.23-carat Colombian emerald ring by Harry Winston, which sold for £377,000/$480,675.

A Victorian diamond star parure demonstrated yet again that jewels fresh to the market with noble provenance make for a winning combination, illustrating yet again London’s traditional association with the sale of important antique jewels. This comprehensive suite was one of the most fiercely contested pieces in the sale and fetched three times its mid-estimate at £317,000/$404,175. 

Furthermore, the dedicated Cartier section, as always, performed very well. 

“The auction, which concluded the London Luxury summer sales saw the highest number of registrants in a Jewellery auction taking place at Christie’s King Street,” commented Keith Penton, Head of Christie’s Jewels department London.

The inaugural London handbag auction established the new auction record for any handbag sold in Europe at £155,000 ($198,000) for a bleu marine crocodile Hermès Birkin with white gold and diamond hardware. 

“This further confirms what we saw in Hong Kong two weeks ago, that our collectors are looking for these high value, truly exceptional pieces. They are an international group - the record setting Hong Kong Birkin was not bought by an Asian client and the London Birkin was not bought by a European client,” commented Matthew Rubinger, International Director of Christie’s Handbag and Accessories department.

The top lot in the Fine and Rare Wines sale was 12 bottles of Domaine De La Romanee Conti, Romanee-Conti 1988 Grand Cru Cote De Nuits, which sold for £141,000 ($180,000).