Christie's is known for auctioning off all kinds of merchandise, from jewelry to whole estates, but it looks like jewelry is their top item for 2006. According to this article from Diamonds.net, they had a huge increase in jewelry sales.

From Christie's 2006 Jewelry Sales +27% to $354.7M:

Christie's jewelry sales in 2006 reached $354.7 million, according to figures released by the company on February 15. This represents a 27 percent increase from 2005 and is the highest annual jewelry total every achieved by Christie's.

Francois Curiel, international head of jewelry and chairman of Christie's Europe noted the company is seeing an explosion in the jewelry market, particularly for contemporary creations that are rare and one-of-a-kind. "For these, as well as for diamonds and precious stones of high quality, prices have risen to a whole new level. This is partly due to the participation of new buyers from China, India, Russia, and the Middle East, where we launched in January 2007 our first jewelry auction in Dubai," Curiel said.

In 2006, Christie's jewelry sales in the United States rose 27 percent to $110 million, while sales in Europe rose 27 percent to $163.8 million, with the highest totals ever achieved by Christie's in Amsterdam, London, Milan/Rome, Paris, and St. Moritz. In Hong Kong, Christie's sold $80.4 million, including a $39.3 million sale in November.

During the year, Christie's sold seven of the 10 most expensive jewels offered by an auction house, with 43 pieces exceeding the $1 million benchmark.

According to Christie's, the global jewelry market has continued to gain strength from the participation of new buyers from China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Taiwan, India, as well as Russia and the Middle East. Private collectors from Asia purchased the top two jewelry lots in the Princess Margaret sale and were active buyers in virtually every important auction of the year. Activity from collectors from Russia was up in most centers, especially St Moritz. February's sale, the largest in Christie's 16-year history of auctions in the resort, saw activity from Russian buyers increase to 24 percent, up from 10 percent in 2005.