Following the record-breaking November auctions that achieved $1.173 billion throughout the Fashionable & Up to date marquee gross sales in New York and the HK$688 million ($88 million) from Japan’s Okada Museum of Artwork public sale in Hong Kong, Sotheby’s closed its inaugural Collectors’ Week in Abu Dhabi with a powerful $133 million complete. Throughout a number of auctions and personal gross sales on the St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort, a cross-category providing of luxurious watches, purses, high-performance bicycles, collectible vehicles and blue-chip actual property attracted strong curiosity—unsurprising in a area the place luxurious demand is accelerating at distinctive velocity. The Gulf Cooperation Council luxury-goods market was estimated at $15.02 billion in 2025, with a projected rise to roughly $24.36 billion by 2030. The United Arab Emirates is among the two main markets, anticipated to be value $8.5 billion in 2025, instantly following Saudi Arabia, the place Sotheby’s earlier this 12 months staged its first-ever public sale within the nation totaling $17.3 million throughout 117 tons in a cross-category sale held in Diriyah close to Riyadh.
Though the ultimate complete generated by Abu Dhabi Collectors’ Week got here in shy of the roughly $150 million estimate, the public sale rooms have been full; there have been white-glove outcomes in jewellery, watches, purses and biking; and record-setting bids abounded. The success of the gross sales is extra proof of the Gulf’s accelerating shopping for energy, particularly when the fabric is best-in-class and strategically positioned.
Regardless of the enchantment of a tax-free stage, it wasn’t simply native participation driving outcomes. Bidders from 35 nations joined in, with practically 1 / 4 from the U.A.E. Virtually a 3rd have been underneath 40, echoing latest knowledge that Millennials and Gen Z are actually the engine of the collectibles market. In an announcement, Sotheby’s CEO Charles F. Stewart known as the week a “historic chapter” for the corporate in Abu Dhabi—a gap act with clear long-term ambitions.
The star of Collectors’ Week was undeniably the 1994 McLaren F1, which achieved $25.3 million after a tense trade between 4 bidders within the room and on the telephones. The automotive class as an entire, strategically timed to coincide with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, surged to $84.7 million and setting a brand new high-water mark for any collector automotive public sale staged within the Center East. The sale additionally supplied the possibility to develop into an honorary member of the McLaren Method 1 Group by buying the 2026 McLaren MCL40A forward of its unveiling; the automotive climbed to $11.5 million after a three-way bidding struggle.
Essentially the most cinematic lot of the week was a waterfront property in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, considered one of two marquee actual property listings marking Sotheby’s Concierge Auctions’ Center Japanese debut. Listed at €35 million, the Côte d’Azur property has 680 sq. meters of residing house framed by 0.72 acres of gardens and a 60-square-meter pool home with sauna and hammam. It finally bought under estimate at $20.1 million, a reminder that even dream properties should not resistant to purchaser self-discipline.
Much more heated was the bidding for Jane Birkin’s Le Voyageur, a one-of-a-kind black Hermès Birkin owned by the legendary actress and star, supplied simply months after Sotheby’s record-breaking $10.1 million sale in Paris of the Birkin prototype. After greater than ten minutes of aggressive bidding and applause because the hammer fell, Le Voyageur soared to $2.9 million in opposition to its $240,000-440,000 estimate, turning into the second most respected purse ever bought at public sale, surpassed solely by Birkin’s 1985 authentic. One among 4 Birkin luggage gifted to the actress by Hermès after the 1994 sale of her prototype, the bag bears a silver inscription by Birkin studying “Mon Birkin bag qui m’a accompagnée dans le monde entier.”
Jewelery and watches additionally delivered standout outcomes, reaching a white-glove sale. Main the class was a four-piece Patek Philippe Star Caliber 2000 set, which fetched $11.9 million, turning into the second most respected watch ever bought at Sotheby’s and confirming continued power out there. The outcome adopted the public sale home’s new document in New York for Audemars Piguet’s “Grosse Pièce,” which bought for $7.7 million over a excessive estimate of $1 million.
One other star of the sale was The Desert Rose, a novel 31.86-carat diamond mixing sunset-like tones of pink and orange. Described by the public sale home because the “largest fancy vivid orangy pink diamond on this planet,” it drew 5 decided bidders and soared to $8.8 million (est. $5-7 million), setting a brand new public sale document for an orangy pink diamond after an nearly 20-minute bidding battle.
Further highlights included a Tiffany & Co. sapphire and diamond ring from the Nineteen Thirties, which surpassed its excessive estimate after charges to promote for $596,900 (est. $350,000-550,000), and a Boucheron emerald and diamond ring that bought close to its excessive estimate at $508,000 underneath assure. A Rolex “Oyster Albino” Daytona from 1971 bought simply shy of its excessive estimate for $952,500 (est. $500,000-$1 million). Throughout the Precision & Brilliance: Prestigious Jewels & Watches from an Necessary Non-public Assortment sale, many tons carried out above expectations, typically exceeding or doubling the excessive estimate, confirming robust demand within the area and globally.
Reflecting rising enthusiasm for biking within the area, Sotheby’s additionally supplied 4 uncommon high-performance bicycles from legendary Italian producer and four-time Tour de France winner Colnago. All tons bought efficiently, largely via on-line bidding, inside or above estimate. The highest lot was a Y1Rs Uncooked Carbon bicycle ridden by Tadej Pogačar on this 12 months’s iconic Mont Ventoux stage of the Tour de France. Estimated at $20,000, it climbed to $190,500, greater than 9 occasions its excessive estimate, setting a brand new public sale document for any bicycle.
Crowning Collectors’ Week was the debut of “Icons,” Sotheby’s first-ever non-selling exhibition of a number of the most costly masterpieces ever dealt with by the public sale home, with 9 works proven in Abu Dhabi earlier than touring to the corporate’s new New York headquarters on the Breuer on December 13, the place it’s set to develop into a vacation season attraction. The museum-grade exhibition helped solidify Sotheby’s reputation, drawing greater than 5,000 guests to the exhibitions and accompanying masterclasses over the week and shifting the public sale home’s position from market hub to cultural vacation spot.
“This week has been so rewarding, enabling us to additional deepen our reference to collectors within the area and share our ardour and experience for what we do—internet hosting an unimaginable night time of auctions was the cherry on high,” Katia Nounou Boueiz, Sotheby’s Head U.A.E. & Deputy Chairman, Center East, stated in an announcement. “We felt that highly effective vitality and cultural pull instantly mirrored within the variety of guests to our exhibitions, particularly our Icons presentation, which was one crucial high-quality artwork exhibitions ever staged exterior of a museum within the Center East.”
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