The Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index (KFLII), which tracks the price growth of ten luxury investment sectors, has risen in value by 5% over the 12 months to the end of Q2 2017. Interestingly, for the first time in years, jewelry has outperformed cars.
Classic cars, which have dominated the rankings for the past few years, have moved into sixth place with average prices rising by just 2% to Q2 2017. Jewelry rose by 4% over the last 12 months. Overall, jewelry has risen in value by 142% over the past ten years. Pearls are still the top performer (+282% across the last decade), according to the KFLII. Their growth, however, “is starting to level out and more modern jewelry, especially pieces from the Belle Époque/Art Deco era, are starting to set the pace (+93% across the last decade)”.
Andrew Shirley, who compiles KFLII, said: “Jewellery continues to capture the imagination of wealthy collectors and is a genuine investment of passion – offering not only great pleasure to its owner, but also, as novelist Barbara Taylor Braford points out in the report, acting as a highly mobile store of wealth”. Bonhams Global Chief Executive Matthew Girling commented: “The Knight Frank Luxury Index provides a fascinating insight into the top areas of collecting. People will always seek out the best in class examples in their favourite collecting areas, and our own experience at Bonhams certainly bears out the report’s conclusions with wine, art, watches and jewellery all performing strongly over the past year”.
