Bonhams sale sees strong demand for pearl jewelry and signed pieces

Pearls stole the spotlight at Bonhams’ Fine Jewellery, London sale at New Bond Street, where a David Morris necklace reached £40,960 and a natural pearl necklace sold for £39,680. The results pushed pearls beyond their polite reputation and into the territory of statement buying, with signed designs and antique settings drawing the sharpest bidding.

The top lot, from a private single-owner collection, was a David Morris cultured pearl and diamond necklace that sold above its £25,000 to £35,000 estimate. Designed as three rows of cultured pearls between diamond-set rondelle spacers, it was finished with flowers and interlocking hoops of pavé-set single-cut diamonds, a layout that gave the piece the clean geometry collectors want when pearls are meant to read as jewel-box glamour rather than simple classicism. It is the kind of necklace that sits close to the collarbone and does its work through structure as much as through lustre.

The strongest pearl result after that was a natural pearl necklace with diamond clasp that more than tripled its £7,000 to £10,000 estimate. Set as two rows of natural pearls, the clasp featured an old cushion-cut diamond within a surround of old single-cut diamonds, a detail that matters because it keeps the piece in the language of antique formality while still feeling wearable. That balance between history and polish is what made the room respond so decisively.

Jennifer Tonkin, Bonhams’ head of jewellery in the UK, said natural pearls, coloured gemstones, signed and period jewellery all performed strongly, and she pointed to the top two results as evidence of appetite for high-jewellery designs by heritage brands. The message was echoed by a Bulgari Monete Tubogas necklace circa 1994, which sold for £35,840 against a £15,000 to £20,000 estimate, showing that collectible signed pieces still carry real pull when the design is recognisable at a glance.

Coloured stones also had their moment. A diamond, ruby and emerald-set bracelet circa 1925 sold for £24,320, more than three times its estimate, while a sapphire and diamond cluster ring with a 5.73-carat Burmese sapphire made £25,600. In March, Bonhams’ earlier London Fine Jewellery sale was 87% sold by lot and 98% by value, and another natural pearl and diamond necklace brought £38,400 against a £10,000 to £15,000 estimate. For buyers looking at pearls now, the winning formula is clear: not the demure strand alone, but pearls set with diamonds, shaped into collars, fringes and signed designs that read as occasion jewelry with lasting presence.