Shirley Bassey’s ‘Baignoire’ Breaks Auction Record

Welsh singer Dame Shirley Bassey loved diamonds, and she sang about them too, recording “Diamonds Are Forever” for the 1971 James Bond film of the same name. However, it was her Cartier “Baignoire” watch that blew away estimates at auction, selling for €66,000 ($71,712).

Paris—Sotheby’s recent jewelry auction in Paris set a new location-specific record for the auction house, led by the collection of an artist who not only loved but also sang about diamonds.

The “Collection of Dame Shirley Bassey,” the award-winning Welsh singer known for her performance of “Diamonds Are Forever,” garnered €2.2 million ($2.4 million), just above its expected total of €2.1 million.

“I fell in love with jewelry when I first discovered natural pearls as an up-and-coming singer, and I bought myself my first string of pearls—the first piece of jewelry I’d ever bought,” Bassey said in a release when the auction was first announced earlier this year.

“However, I quickly graduated to my lifelong passion for diamonds, which preceded the recording of ‘Diamonds Are Forever.’ In fact, I accepted to sing the song because it rang true to me and the way I felt about diamonds then and now.”

While a number of Bassey’s diamond pieces went for hundreds of thousands of dollars at Sotheby’s Paris, it was actually the 87-year-old singer’s relatively plain watch that broke a world record.

Bassey’s Cartier “Baignoire” with a white gold case and black leather strap sold for €66,000 ($71,712), blowing away its pre-sale estimate of €1,500-€3,000 and making it the most expensive “Baignoire” ever sold at auction.

Named for its shape (“baignoire” is French for bathtub), Cartier first created this style in the early 1900s. It brought back the “Baignoire” to much fanfare at Watches & Wonders Geneva in 2023.

Other pieces from Bassey’s collection that outperformed at auction include a vintage Van Cleef & Arpels diamond cluster ring from the 1960s that Elton John gave to the singer. It sold for €48,000 ($52,071), more than three times its high estimate. 

A buyer bought her bow-shaped diamond brooch from 1905 for €162,000 ($175,742), nearly five times its high estimate, while another paid €174,000 ($188,754) for the Van Cleef & Arpels emerald and diamond necklace Bassey bought herself to commemorate her first Royal Variety Performance in front of the late Queen Elizabeth II. 

The pre-sale estimate on that piece was €50,000-€70,000.

Held Oct. 10, Sotheby’s Paris Fine Jewels sale totaled nearly €6.5 million ($7.1 million), with more than half of the lots topping their highest pre-auction estimates.

It’s the highest total ever for a Sotheby’s jewelry sale held in Paris.

The auction broke several brand-specific records too.

Sotheby’s said a circa-1928 Cartier “Tutti Frutti” bracelet became the most valuable Cartier lot ever sold at its Paris location. 

A buyer paid €480,000 ($520,487) for the piece, making it the sale’s top lot overall. 

A Georges Fouquet aquamarine, onyx, and diamond brooch that went for €126,000 ($136,654) became the most valuable Georges Fouquet piece sold by Sotheby’s Paris, while the sale also set a new record for the auction house when it comes to bracelets from Van Cleef & Arpels.

A buyer paid €240,000 ($260,244) for a sapphire and diamond “Boucle” bracelet from the brand, making it the most valuable Van Cleef & Arpels bracelet ever sold at Sotheby’s Paris and the auction’s third highest-grossing lot.