Nov. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Christie’s International and Sotheby’s sold a combined $95 million in Geneva auctions of watches, gems and wine this week as the rich seek rare objects to hedge against inflation.

Christie’s yesterday raised 32.3 million Swiss francs ($32 million) in a jewelry auction, beating its high estimate, Francois Curiel, head of the auctioneer’s jewelry unit said in a phone interview. Christie’s also beat the high estimates for its watch and wine auctions, while Sotheby’s met estimates for its sales of gems and timepieces.

“There is all this cash available in the world for the moment in search of a home, and the home is rare, precious objects,” Curiel said. “There is this talk that there should be inflation someday because governments have printed so much money.”

The auction houses set world records for green diamonds, intense blue diamonds and so-called “chameleon” diamonds this week in Switzerland. Johann Rupert, the South African billionaire who controls luxury brands including Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels, said last week that hyperinflation concern may lead to people running into jewelry stores.

Last year, about 39 percent of the lots in Sotheby’s Geneva November gem auction went unsold, including the top three pieces, while Christie’s failed to sell about half.

Prices of VS2 G diamonds, a commonly traded gem, have gained 9.6 percent for one-carat stones in the past year, erasing part of a 16 percent slump in the previous period, according to Antwerp-based PolishedPrices.com.

Pear-Shaped

Aleks Paul, a Russian gem dealer at Essex Global Trading in New York, spent 13 million francs in yesterday’s Christie’s auction, hauling off a 62-carat flawless pear-shaped diamond and two other pieces of diamond jewelry. That’s more than a third of the total sale.

Concern about hyperinflation is “absolutely” one reason demand for gems is strong, Paul said in an interview. He said his clients are based in Russia, China and the Middle East.

Paul was the underbidder in a battle last year for a diamond once owned by Spanish King Philip IV whose 16.4 million pound ($27 million) price tag set a record for any jewel sold in auction.

A European dealer paid $987,000 for a “chameleon” diamond pendant necklace, the record price paid for such a diamond, which turns red in artificial light and is green in natural light, Christie’s said.

Low returns on savings, worries about banks’ solidity and currency fluctuations are also boosting demand for precious objects, Curiel said.

Jewelry is “an international currency: you don’t have to take a position in dollars, pounds or euros when you hold diamonds,” he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Thomas Mulier in Geneva at tmulier@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 19, 2009 06:11 EST