Cartier Pays Record $27 Million for Barbara Hutton’s Jadeite Necklace at Sotheby’s

Cartier beat out eight bidders to pay a world record $ million for a legendary jadeite necklace at Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels auction in Hong Kong—in a sale that also set a world-record price for an auctioned ruby. The Hutton-Mdivani Necklace—hailed by Sotheby’s as the “greatest jadeite bead necklace in the world”—attracted eight bidders who competed for 20 minutes, in “one of the most thrilling salesroom competitions ever,” said Chin Yeow Quek, deputy chairman and head of jewellery department, Sotheby’s Asia, in a statement. Like many lost treasures, the precise origin of the jadeite beads on this necklace is unknown. Nonetheless, since the beads were of supreme quality and had already found their way to Europe and been customised into a piece of haute joaillerie by Cartier by the early 1930s, they can be dated at least to the late 19th or early 20th century.