The sale reached $49,827,926 yes­ter­day. It is the high­est total ever achieved for a jew­elry sale at Sotheby’s New York. While I’d like to think that my cre­ative efforts for their cat­a­log (fea­tured above) did the trick, the truth is that the jew­elry was mon­u­men­tal in every pos­si­ble way. For a jew­elry writer, the subject-matter doesn’t get any bet­ter than this: the Duchess of Windsor’s pearls, a 1912 Cartier bandeau/brooch/bracelet the likes of which we shall never see again, fab­u­lous Harry Win­ston dia­monds, a nineteenth-century neck­lace owned by Queen Alexan­dra, and Belper­ron at her best. Poetry is com­monly revealed in words, yet when found in metal and gem­stones, it is just as sparkling-ly persuasive.