A century-old Vacheron Constantin pendant watch in 18K gold and black enamel, set with diamonds and signed on case, dial, and movement, realized nearly $40,000 at Parke-Bernet. It is a rare surviving example of the haute horlogerie tradition at its most lavish and most personal.

Reviewed and formally documented by Professor W.G. Lambert of the University of Birmingham in 1992, this 4,500-year-old cylinder seal from a private British collection achieved a near-record result at Parke-Bernet, confirming the market's appetite for authenticated objects from the deep past.

In 1937, forty specialists founded Parke-Bernet to prove that an auction house could be built on expertise rather than spectacle. It became the largest in America before disappearing inside Sotheby's. Today the collectibles market approaches half a trillion dollars, a new generation is collecting at unprecedented scale, and the trust that Parke-Bernet was built to provide is the scarcest commodity in the room. Some things deserve a second act.