Jessica Koers

Head of Department, Senior Associate Director
Amsterdam

Jessica Koers joined Christie’s in 2000. As head of Christie’s Jewelry Department in Amsterdam Jessica oversees three sales a year and travels throughout Europe to source collectors’ jewels and gemstones for the Dutch market, also gathering items of high quality for Geneva, London and Paris. Jessica holds the records for both the most expensive diamond (€241,600) and pearl (€144,000) sold at auction in Holland. Jessica attended Leiden University, specialising in Renaissance Jewellery and completed a masterclass on precious stones at the London Gemmological Association. Jessica is fluent in Dutch, English and Italian and gives lectures in all three languages.

Daniel Girod

Specialist
Amsterdam

Yaovanne Nirandara

Liaison
Bangkok

Frederik Schwarz

Senior Specialist
Berlin

Sabrina Koesharto

Office Manager
Brussels

David Warren

International Director
Dubai

David Warren began his career with Christie's in the firm's Jewelry Department in Scotland, then moved to its headquarters in London and subsequently relocated to Hong Kong to set up Christie's Asian jewelry, watches and jadeite auctions. When annual sales had soared to $40 million and a skilled team of jewelry specialists had been put in place, Mr. Warren returned to London to take up the position of head of the Jewelry Department. That was in 1995. His leadership took the department to the heights of success with a series of exciting theme sales, including Bijoux Français, Bijoux Signés, Asprey & Garrard, and Magnificent Mughal Jewels. More recently, Mr. Warren was responsible for Christie's highly succesful inaugural auction of Contemporary Jewels and Watches in Dubai in 2007. These bi-anual jewelry sales are part of Christie's development of the Middle East in which Warren is pivotal. A respected authority on gems and jewelry, David Warren has written many articles on the subject, including a chapter in The Encyclopaedia of World Antiques (Acropolis, 1991). Mr. Warren has lectured extensively in South East Asia, South America, the Middle East and the United Kingdom. He is also an authority on Mughal jewelry, emeralds and pearls.

Frederic Watrelot

Specialist & Client Liason
Dubai

Rahul Kadakia

Head of Department, Senior Vice President
Geneva

A recognized auctioneer at Christie’s salerooms in Geneva, Hong Kong, London and New York, Mr. Kadakia joined Christie’s—the international leader in jewelry sales—in 1996 when he was instrumental in establishing the first ever Important Indian Jewels auction, which included a Mughal inscribed spinel bead necklace sold for $1.4 million.

In 2004, he was named head of the Jewelry Department for Christie’s Americas and annual auction sales have soared above $100 million in New York nearly every year since his appointment, and private sales generating many millions more. Mr. Kadakia has been included in Art+Auction’s annual ‘Power Issue’ and has been a featured guest on NBC’s Today Show, Fox’s Varney & Co., and Bloomberg TV’s Money Moves, among other TV news programs.

He has been at the podium for a number of record breaking sales including the ‘Ideal Ruby’ of 8.01 carats, sold for a record $275,000 per carat in 2005; the Ellen Barkin Collection, which showcased the most important collection of jewels by JAR ever to appear at auction (2006); and the historic Baroda Pearls which realized a world auction record of $7.1 million (2007). More recently, he auctioned the Annenberg Diamond, a 32.01 carat rectangular-cut gem for $7.7 million (2009), which set a record price per carat for any colorless diamond at auction; and the BVLGARI Blue diamond ring (2010), which realized $15.8 million.

In 2011, he became a media sensation as co-auctioneer of the famed jewelry from the Collection of Elizabeth Taylor, which totalled $137.2 million over two days, outperforming its pre-sale estimate by four times. Top lots included the historic La Peregrina pearl necklace, which sold for $11.8 million – a world auction record for any pearl jewel and The Elizabeth Taylor Diamond, which fetched $8.8 million and set a new per-carat record for any colorless diamond at auction. In November 2012 the famed 76.02 carat Archduke Joseph Diamond sold at Christie’s Geneva for $21.5m setting a new benchmark for a colorless diamond.

Daniel Struyf

Specialist
Geneva

Angela Berden

Specialist
Geneva

Felice Lieftinck

European Specialist
Geneva

Filippo Battino

Associate Specialist
Geneva

Jean-Marc Lunel

Senior International Specialist
Geneva

Jean-Marc Lunel joined Christie’s in 1999 as a Jewelry Specialist in London. He was then transferred to Paris to launch Christie’s Jewelry sales in France, and organized Christie’s first auction in Paris in December 2001. In Fall 2009 Mr. Lunel was promoted to head of the Swiss Jewelry department, responsible for the two prestigious sales organized each year in Geneva. Since he began his career at Christie’s, Jean-Marc Lunel has sold many valuable jewels and gemstones including a 8.62ct Burmese ruby for an auction record price per carat of $422,000 (2006) and a Kashmir sapphire of 42.28cts which achieved $3.5 million, an auction record price at that time (2008). Mr. Lunel is a graduate of the French Gemmological Institute (ING).

François Curiel

President of Christie’s Asia
Hong Kong

Born in France in 1948, François Curiel began his career at Christie’s as a jewelry specialist in London in 1969. After working in Madrid, Paris and Geneva, he moved to New York in 1977 to launch the jewellery department there. In 1989, he returned to Europe as Managing Director and worldwide Head of Jewellery. In 1998, he was appointed Chairman of Christie’s Europe and in 2001, he took over the reins of Christie’s France, while maintaining his other responsibilities. In January 2010, he was appointed President of Christie’s in Asia, based in Hong Kong, and one of the seven executives to lead the Group International Management Team. In 1996, the Diamond High Council in Belgium awarded François Curiel the prestigious Antwerp Diamond Career Award, given to fewer than ten personalities in the world. From 2001 to 2009, he was nominated by the French Minister of Justice to the French Market Auction Authority, the regulatory body overseeing the French auction system, and in 2009, he received France’s most prestigious distinction when he was promoted Officer of the Legion of Honor. Often described in the press as one of the greatest auctioneers of our time, he regularly holds the hammer for sales in Europe, Asia and America.

Vickie Sek

Director and Head of Jewellery & Jadeite Department, Asia
Hong Kong

Vickie Sek is Director and Head of the Jewellery & Jadeite Department at Christie’s in Asia, overseeing all aspects of jewellery sales at Christie’s in Asia and manages Asian client and consignor relations. As a major contributor to the success of our sales in Europe and the United States, she advises Christie’s Asian collectors on all their purchases in these venues. Beginning her career as a diamond sorter, Ms. Sek joined a prestigious jewellery store in Hong Kong in 1977 which dealt in fine modern and period jewels by Western designers. In 1990, she became the manager and buyer there. With strong contacts developed with both European and American trade suppliers, as well as with local private clients, Ms. Sek joined Christie’s as a jewellery specialist in 1994 and is now responsible for organizing bi-annual sales in Hong Kong and leading the strategic direction of the Jewellery department in Asia. Under her leadership, Christie’s sales of jewellery and jadeite jewellery in Hong Kong have grown exponentially and for the last 14 years Christie’s has held the dominant position for jewellery auctions in Asia, with a market share of 54% in 2007. In November 2007, Christie’s broke the record for the most important jewellery auction ever held in Asia, with a total of US$47.3 million (HK$295.8 milion). Christie’s May 2008 sale, Jewels: The Hong Kong Sale, totaled a record US$60.1million (HK$468.8 million), making it the most valuable jewellery sale ever organized by Christie’s anywhere in the world. Since joining Christie’s, Ms. Sek has been responsible for many important sales and collections including the private collection. Among the most notable is the sale the collection of Theresa Po Lau sold in November 1998, which remains the most valuable single-owner jewellery collection ever auctioned in Asia. Most recently and leading the benchmark November 2009 auction was the sale of The Vivid Pink, the largest Fancy Vivid Pink Potentially Flawless diamond to ever be offered for sale at auction, and which sold for HK$83.5 million (US$10.8 million) - a record for a pink diamond at auction. The per carat price of US$2.1 million stands as the new auction record price per carat, not only for a diamond, but for any gemstone at auction. Also of note was the sale of the largest diamond ever offered in Asia, an exquisite 101.27ct F, VVS1 diamond which sold to a private collector for US$6.2m (HK$48.5m) in May 2008. In this sale, there was another record for a green diamond (square-shaped fancy green diamond ring of 10.36 carats which sold for US$3,485,291/HK$ 27,207,500). Ms. Sek travels extensively, sourcing jewels for sale and introducing pieces to perspective buyers all around the world, and meets regularly with the most important collectors and members of the trade in her field. She speaks English, Cantonese and Mandarin, and is fluent in Japanese.

Karen Au Yeung

Senior Specialist
Hong Kong

Karen Au-Yeung is Senior Specialist in Christie’s Asia Jewellery department. Ms. Au-Yeung, who lived in Bangkok for ten years, joined Christie's in 2000. Now based in Hong Kong, Ms. Au-Yeung plays an integral role in Christie's Hong Kong jewellery sales and in the development of Christie’s clients throughout Asia. In addition to sourcing and selling important jewels and jadeite for Christie’s sales in Hong Kong, Ms. Au-Yeung, whose passion and talent for jewellery extend into the realm of design, also actively designs jewellery from important gemstones that are offered for auction. Through her strong network of private collectors and trade clients in Thailand and throughout the region, Ms. Au-Yeung has also been an important driving force in Christie’s jewellery private sales in Asia. Ms. Au-Yeung speaks Cantonese, Mandarin and English and is fluent in Thai.

May Lim

Associate Specialist
Hong Kong

May Lim joined Christie’s in March 2011 as Associate Specialist for the Jewellery Department in Hong Kong. Working closely with Vickie Sek, Director of Jewellery and Jadeite Department in Asia, May is responsible for cataloguing, research, and client development, with a particular focus on Asian clients. With over three years of experience in the fine jewellery auction business, May is regarded as a strong addition to Christie’s Jewellery international team. May holds a Bachelor in Business Administration from Babson College in the US, and is a Graduate Gemologist from the GIA.

Chiang Shiu Fung

Specialist
Hong Kong

Mr. Chiang joined Christie's Jewellery Department in Hong Kong in 2007. He is responsible for evaluating jadeite pieces, acquiring consignments, cataloguing works, sales preparation and client services, helps organizing two sales a year in Hong Kong. He also works closely with colleagues in mainland China to further develop the market for jadeite and jewellery. Mr. Chiang is fluent in English, Cantonese and Mandarin.

Selina Sumbung

Regional Representative, Indonesia
Jakarta

Lim Meng Hong

Liaison
Kuala Lumpur

Keith Penton

Department Head
London, King Street

Keith Penton began his career as a jewelry specialist in 1988, working in senior positions at key international auction houses. Having organized many successful auctions throughout his career, he moved back to Christie's in January 2004 to oversee the South Kensington jewelry sales. In July 2008 he was appointed Head of the London Jewelry department and oversaw the sale of the historic Wittelsbach Blue Diamond (now known as the Wittelsbach-Graff), which achieved the then world-record price for any diamond or jewel sold at auction, when it sold for £16,393,250 / $24,311,190 / €18,704,698. Having extensively researched and lectured on the history jewelry design, Keith Penton continues to extend Christie’s longstanding tradition of selling the most important royal, aristocratic and historic jewels at auction. Recent examples range from The Portland Collection, sold in December 2010, to The Rosebery Pearls and the record breaking Cartier Tutti Frutti bracelet, which were both offered in June 2011. With a B.A. Hons from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, Keith became a Fellow of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain, later gaining the Gem Diamond Diploma from the Gemmological Association. In 2005 he became a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths and a Freeman of the City of London.

David Warren

International Director (Dubai)
London, King Street

David Warren began his career with Christie's in the firm's Jewelry Department in Scotland, then moved to its headquarters in London and subsequently relocated to Hong Kong to set up Christie's Asian jewelry, watches and jadeite auctions. When annual sales had soared to $40 million and a skilled team of jewelry specialists had been put in place, Mr. Warren returned to London to take up the position of head of the Jewelry Department. That was in 1995. His leadership took the department to the heights of success with a series of exciting theme sales, including Bijoux Français, Bijoux Signés, Asprey & Garrard, and Magnificent Mughal Jewels. More recently, Mr. Warren was responsible for Christie's highly succesful inaugural auction of Contemporary Jewels and Watches in Dubai in 2007. These bi-anual jewelry sales are part of Christie's development of the Middle East in which Warren is pivotal. A respected authority on gems and jewelry, David Warren has written many articles on the subject, including a chapter in The Encyclopaedia of World Antiques (Acropolis, 1991). Mr. Warren has lectured extensively in South East Asia, South America, the Middle East and the United Kingdom. He is also an authority on Mughal jewelry, emeralds and pearls.

Raymond Sancroft-Baker

Consultant
London, King Street

Raymond Sancroft-Baker supervises Christie's jewelry sales in Amsterdam, Geneva, London, Paris and Rome. He began his career at Christie's in the Coins & Medals Department, where he conducted sales in the United States and in Europe. He took charge of the Jewelry department in London in 1988. Mr. Sancroft-Baker organized the sale of the historic 32-carat pink Agra diamond in 1990 that sold for a world auction record price of $6.9 million; the same auction saw the largest ever total for a London jewelry sale of $22 million, a record that stood for 18 years. He created the first theme auction in 1992 entirely devoted to jewelry, clocks and objects by Cartier. He has been instrumental in setting Christie's disclosure policy concerning treatments and artificial enhancements of jewelry to be sold. Raymond Sancroft-Baker is a Fellow of the Gemological Association (FGA).

Francesca Valentini

Associate Specialist
London, King Street

Geoff Young

Department Head
London, South Kensington

Geoff Young is an Associate Director and Head of Sale for the Jewelry department at Christie’s South Kensington. Since his appointment as Head of Sale in 2008, Geoff has overseen 10 auctions a year including four fine sales and two sales specialising in vintage jewelry. These events have proved a very popular entry point into the world of jewelry auctions, attracting young and new collectors locally, as well as internationally. Mr. Young read Modern History at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford completing his B.A Hons in 1993. He taught History for two years before joining Christie's Jewelry department in 1996. He became a Fellow of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain in 1998 and two years later passed the Diamond Grading Diploma.

Mark Bowis

Senior Specialist
London, South Kensington

Charlotte Soehngen

Junior Specialist
London, South Kensington

Leslie Roskind

Specialist
Los Angeles

José Miguel Zamoyski

Specialist
Madrid

Francesco Alverà

Department Head
Milan

Francesco Alverà, an Italian national born in Bonn, Germany, began his jewelry career at Christie's Italy in 1980 as head of the jewelry department with responsibility for the firm's bi-annual auctions in Italy. Under his direction, Christie's established itself as the market leader for jewelry in Italy. Among the auction highlights is the sale of the most expensive jewel ever sold at auction in Italy, a diamond and fancy colored diamond "en tremblant" flower brooch by Bulgari, 1958, which achieved $1.1 million (1998). He also secured numerous important collections from such famous names as singer Ornella Vanoni, actress Anna Magnani, and most recently, lyrical singer Julietta Simionato. A seasoned auctioneer, he regularly holds the gavel not only during Christie's sales but also at prestigious charity auctions. He has organized jewelry exhibitions in Florence, Genova, Naples, Portofino, Torino and Venice. Mr. Alverà, who is multi-lingual, graduated from the Gemological Institute of America.

Rahul Kadakia

Head of Department, Senior Vice President
New York, Rockefeller Center

A recognized auctioneer at Christie’s salerooms in Geneva, Hong Kong, London and New York, Mr. Kadakia joined Christie’s—the international leader in jewelry sales—in 1996 when he was instrumental in establishing the first ever Important Indian Jewels auction, which included a Mughal inscribed spinel bead necklace sold for $1.4 million.

In 2004, he was named head of the Jewelry Department for Christie’s Americas and annual auction sales have soared above $100 million in New York nearly every year since his appointment, and private sales generating many millions more. Mr. Kadakia has been included in Art+Auction’s annual ‘Power Issue’ and has been a featured guest on NBC’s Today Show, Fox’s Varney & Co., and Bloomberg TV’s Money Moves, among other TV news programs.

He has been at the podium for a number of record breaking sales including the ‘Ideal Ruby’ of 8.01 carats, sold for a record $275,000 per carat in 2005; the Ellen Barkin Collection, which showcased the most important collection of jewels by JAR ever to appear at auction (2006); and the historic Baroda Pearls which realized a world auction record of $7.1 million (2007). More recently, he auctioned the Annenberg Diamond, a 32.01 carat rectangular-cut gem for $7.7 million (2009), which set a record price per carat for any colorless diamond at auction; and the BVLGARI Blue diamond ring (2010), which realized $15.8 million.

In 2011, he became a media sensation as co-auctioneer of the famed jewelry from the Collection of Elizabeth Taylor, which totalled $137.2 million over two days, outperforming its pre-sale estimate by four times. Top lots included the historic La Peregrina pearl necklace, which sold for $11.8 million – a world auction record for any pearl jewel and The Elizabeth Taylor Diamond, which fetched $8.8 million and set a new per-carat record for any colorless diamond at auction. In November 2012 the famed 76.02 carat Archduke Joseph Diamond sold at Christie’s Geneva for $21.5m setting a new benchmark for a colorless diamond.

Daphne Lingon

Senior Specialist
New York, Rockefeller Center

Tom Burstein

Senior Specialist
New York, Rockefeller Center

Jennifer Rosenthal

Associate Specialist
New York, Rockefeller Center

Filippo Battino

Associate Specialist
New York, Rockefeller Center

Marie-Laurence Tixier

Department Head, Auctioneer
Paris

Julien Brunie

International Managing Director for Jewels Private Sales
Paris

A graduate of the business school EDC (École des dirigeants et créateurs d’entreprise), Julien has worked in the luxury and jewellery market for over 10 years. He started his career in 2000 in the chairman’s office of the jeweller Boucheron. After having risen to the position of Director for France and the United Kingdom, he left Boucheron to join Christie’s in 2010. As International Managing Director for Jewels Private Sales, Julien contributes to the development of private sales in Paris. A connoisseur of the jewellery market and its stakeholders, he offers his clients an exceptional service that allows them to buy and sell fine jewellery, from ancient jewels to modern signed pieces, discreetly.

Constance Meyer

Cataloguer
Paris

Francesco Alverà

Department Head
Rome

Francesco Alverà, an Italian national born in Bonn, Germany, began his jewelry career at Christie's Italy in 1980 as head of the jewelry department with responsibility for the firm's bi-annual auctions in Italy. Under his direction, Christie's established itself as the market leader for jewelry in Italy. Among the auction highlights is the sale of the most expensive jewel ever sold at auction in Italy, a diamond and fancy colored diamond "en tremblant" flower brooch by Bulgari, 1958, which achieved $1.1 million (1998). He also secured numerous important collections from such famous names as singer Ornella Vanoni, actress Anna Magnani, and most recently, lyrical singer Julietta Simionato. A seasoned auctioneer, he regularly holds the gavel not only during Christie's sales but also at prestigious charity auctions. He has organized jewelry exhibitions in Florence, Genova, Naples, Portofino, Torino and Venice. Mr. Alverà, who is multi-lingual, graduated from the Gemological Institute of America.

Tiziana Appetiti

Senior Specialist
Rome

Brenda Kang

Senior Specialist Asia
Singapore

Wen Li Tang

Liaison
Singapore

Ada Ong

General Manager
Taipei

Hami Bianchi

Liaison
Tokyo

Elena Tschigg

Regional Liaison
Zürich