Faraone Casa d’Aste May Auction Closes at +129% Above Catalogue

Key Highlights

• May 27 auction on Via Montenapoleone closed at 90% sold across jewellery sessions, +129% above catalogue value
• Silverware session achieved a 99% sell-through rate, with Buccellati lots multiplying estimates up to fivefold
• Lot 248 — Burmese ruby and diamond ring — sold by telephone for €77,000 against a €12,000 estimate
• Lot 267 (Buccellati rigid ruby bracelet) and lot 268 (sapphire cuff) reached €30,000 and €36,000 respectively, both to Asian collectors
• Vintage coral lots ignited a spontaneous “Coral Mania,” with pieces multiplying starting bids more than fivefold
• Bidding drawn from telephone clients, in-room collectors and digital participants via the MyFaraone App

Early Impressions

The May 27 session confirmed what the Milanese market had been signalling quietly for several seasons: appetite for signed Italian jewellery and silverware is both deep and geographically wide. Faraone Casa d’Aste recorded a +129% aggregate premium above catalogue value — a figure that places this auction in a category of its own within the Italian secondary market for collectible luxury and high jewellery.

Three sessions ran across the day. The first, devoted entirely to silverware, closed at 99%, with Buccellati table-art objects generating bidding competitions that routinely pushed opening estimates to five times their stated value. The jewellery sessions that followed sustained that momentum, closing collectively at 90% sold with individual results that drew gasps from the room and, by all accounts, from telephone lines spanning two hemispheres.

Gemstones & Signed Jewels

Lot 248 — a white gold ring set with an approximately 7.90 ct Burmese ruby flanked by diamonds — became the headline result of the day. Estimated at €12,000, it was hammered at €77,000 after two telephone bidders, connected from opposite ends of the world, refused to concede from €48,000 upward. The final price represents a 6.4× multiple of the pre-sale estimate.

Lot 125, a platinum ring centred on a 3.40 ct emerald-cut emerald flanked by cushion-cut diamonds, climbed from €8,000 to €41,000 through sustained telephone competition. The Cartier Panthère ring in white gold and pavé diamonds — lot 258 — sold by telephone for €30,000, drawing consistent interest from collectors who recognise the enduring secondary-market strength of that particular reference.

Buccellati & Bulgari: The House Names That Drove the Room

The Gianmaria Buccellati demi-parure — lot 266 — in polished and satin-finished yellow gold, comprising a floral brooch and earrings set with cultured white pearls, sold by telephone for €14,000. The truly spectacular results, however, came from the maison’s bracelets: lot 267, a rigid bracelet finished with oval cabochon rubies, rose from €8,000 to €30,000 (pre-auction written offers had already exceeded €22,000); lot 268, a flexible cuff with a floral motif and oval cabochon sapphires, reached €36,000 from a €12,000 estimate. Both pieces were acquired by Asian collectors — a detail that speaks to the broadening collector base for signed Italian goldsmithing.

The Bulgari Serpenti Tubogas watch (lot 235) reached €14,000 via the MyFaraone App, while the Gemme Nummarie yellow gold gourmette necklace with a centred coin and round diamond finish — lot 237 — was sold online for €32,000 after pre-auction offers had already surpassed €20,000. The Tubogas necklace, lot 222, closed at €22,000 by telephone.

The Coral Revival and a Global Collecting Market

A spontaneous “Coral Mania” declared itself mid-session, as vintage coral lots catalysed competitive bidding from collectors evidently drawn to the material’s association with Italian 1970s and 1980s aesthetics. Lot 79, a single-strand coral boule necklace with a yellow gold and diamond clasp, rose from €800 to €4,200 by telephone. Lot 134 moved from €500 to €4,200; lot 146 from €400 to €3,100 in the room.

The bidding geography of the entire auction — telephone clients, written pre-auction offers, in-room presence and digital participation through the MyFaraone App — confirmed a collecting market that is simultaneously local and global. Faraone Casa d’Aste has consolidated its position as the Italian reference for signed collectible jewellery, and the May 27 figures make the case with finality.

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