Vickie Sek (石麗華)
Chairman, Jewellery, Asia
Vickie Sek is Chairman of Jewellery 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.