Auction houses are blocking the gap in the art market by selling luxury goods

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Last month, a abused second-hand Hermes Birkin bag was sold for a record $10 million in Paris in Sotheby’s. The sale marks the highest price ever for handbags (although it is a prototype owned by late fashion icon Jane Birkin, but compared to the wider luxury market.

But as high-end art sales continue to stagnate, auction houses are increasingly inclined toward luxury goods. According to market research firm Arttactic, Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips’s fell 44% in the first half of 2025, compared with the same period in 2022. It’s a hole that needs to be clogged for about $3 billion, and the auction house seems to have done with high-end handbags, jewelry, jewelry, wine, boring hair” and “jewelry, jewelry, jewelry” and “jewelry” and “jewelry” and “jewelry” income. According to another Arttactic report, luxury goods sales reached their highest market share in the auction house in the first half of 2024 and rose to 20.2% so far in 2025.

“These gains are particularly noteworthy in the context of a decline in overall sales value, highlighting the lasting appeal of rare, high-quality items and the continued confidence of collectors in the luxury sector,” the report said.

These gains are evident in the auction house’s balance sheet. Christie announced last month that her first half of 2025 was flat year-on-year, a relatively win, given the wider market decline. However, this total is backed by a 30% increase in luxury sales, which brings in $468 million, or about 22% of the total homes’ $2.1 billion. This is a 6% increase from the same period last year.

This rise is partly due to the House selling nine of the 10 most expensive jewelry at auction so far this year, as well as the contents of billionaire Bill Koch’s wine cellar, which contains nearly $30 million. Christie’s sold-out “magnificent jewelry” sale in Geneva brought in $72 million in May, led by 6.24 carats of deep blue interior flawless diamonds, earning $12.7 million. Meanwhile, the sale of Koch’s hiding became the most successful wine auction in North American history. Showstopper is a “Methuselah” bottle of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti-Conti-Conti-Conti-Conti-Conti-Conti-Conti-Conti-Conti-Conti-Conti-Conti-Conti-Conti-Conti-Conti-Conti-Conti-Conti-Conti-Conti-Conti-Conti-Cru (1999) for $275,000.

A spokesperson told Artnews That has brought luxury sales to more than $2 billion in 2024, a figure that has hit three consecutive years, accounting for one-third of the home’s total $6 billion last year. According to the House, this result is three times its total luxury goods market in 2019 and remains the highest number in the industry. Private luxury sales also increased by 350% over the previous year, a spokesperson added. This number may climb in 2025, thanks in part to record Birkin sales.

Sotheby’s also enjoyed recorded intakes for France’s luxury industry last year, recording the total sales of jewelry and watches ever ($16.3 million and $8.3 million, respectively). These results coincide with the opening of the new Paris headquarters in the House of Representatives last October.

Auction houses’ hub with luxury goods seems to be closely linked to their growing presence in the Middle East. According to a new report by Dubai retailer and distributor Chalhoub Group, the region’s luxury goods market soared 6% last year to nearly $13 billion. The plan seems to be working: Christie reports a 14% increase in buyers in the Middle East in 2024, while Sotheby’s cited record buyers in the region during the same period.

Both homes are investing accordingly. Last September, Christie announced that she would establish a permanent position in Saudi Arabia. In February, Sotheby held its first auction in the Kingdom, a sale of high-end jewelry and watches accompanied by a “master class” designed to nurture a new luxury collector base.

“We met a lot of people in the Kingdom are passionate about luxury goods we’ve never encountered before,” Jessica Wyndham, head of the Jewelry Division at Geneva, told The Sotheby’s Jewelry Division Artnews then. “When it comes to selling, we bring a broad definition that a range of luxury goods encompasses.”

Morgan Halimi, Sotheby’s global head of handbags and fashion, meanwhile, has put record-breaking Birkin sales as part of a broader trend. The auction houses have seen a 40% increase in online handbag auction sales so far this year compared to the same period in 2024, and now it’s Buy.

Halimi told Artnews. “Selling a handbag of historic significance from Jane Birkin’s original Birkin is unlikely to happen every year, but if the category continues to grow 200% over the past three years, it may retain its appeal to collectors for years to come.”

At Phillips, the luxury category centers on watches and jewelry, and the watch division of the house has 41% of the global market. In 2024, the home’s timepiece auction brought in more than $212 million in revenue, which was Phillips’ total, making it the first auction house to exceed $200 million in four consecutive years to watch sales. Phillips certainly has to be five consecutive years: in the first half of 2025, Phillips reported $114.8 million in watch sales, and $19.2 million in jewelry.

When I asked Christie’s head of international jewelry, Rahul Kadakia, the growth in luxury sales was directly related to sticky art sales, which he delayed.

Cardakia tells Artnews By email. He noted that Christie’s had long sold jewelry and luxury items on the grounds that the Barry Comtesse du Barry collection was sold in 1795, the first independent jewelry auction in history.

Representatives of Christie and Sotheby Artnews The art and luxury markets are not isolated, but complement each other. Cultivating cross-border buyers may be the key point. So far, 40% of new House buyers sold luxury goods from Asia so far, according to Kadakia.

“Online is a big advantage for the luxury category, often bringing the sale rate to more than 90%,” Cardakia said. “We see strong bids, with an average of five or more bidders per batch.”

In the first half of 2025, more than 30% of Christie’s new buyers were Zers and millennials, the auction house said in a Zoom call with reporters last month. Sotheby’s has witnessed the same trend: 20% of its bidders for luxury and fine art sales in 2024 saw an increase in bids in their 20s and 30s compared to the previous year. Perhaps most notably, the number of buyers under the age of 20 has increased by 22 times over the past five years.

These two figures further highlight the crucial role of luxury goods in increasing the foundation of auction buyers.

“Along with the 20th and 21st century artwork, the luxury category has been our best recruiter,” Cardakia said, adding that about half of the new clients have returned to bidding again.

According to recent industry reports, luxury goods have long been a big business in Asia, with the market totaling $135 billion last year, and the annual growth rate of luxury goods by 2033 was 4%.

Christie and Sotheby’s luxury is at the heart of their new Hong Kong headquarters. (Sotheby’s new Maison is even within Landmark Chater, a high-end shopping mall in downtown.) Christie staged its first dedicated luxury goods sales week, bringing in $108 million in the grand opening of its new office in Henderson last year. Meanwhile, Sotheby’s said it will host nine dedicated luxury sales on its two-story 24,000-square-foot Maison by the end of this year.

When asked whether luxury sales could soon surpass art sales, Kadakia, the head of jewellery, was still very y-like. “Our job is to provide our customers with the most outstanding art and objects, and the pipeline in the second half of 2025 looks very promising,” he said. “We have ambitious attitudes to all luxury categories and are working hard to attract new buyers and provide the most special examples in all categories.

But as Josh Pullan, head of Sotheby’s global luxury division, told Artnews Last year, the House’s eyes were directly focused on growth in the field.

“We are still in the early stages of unlocking potential, rather than competing with it, but complementing the art and legacy of the business,” he said.