Sotheby's is preparing the first auction dedicated to artists' jewelery

The latest indicator of consumer and collector interest in fine jewelry is highlighted by Sotheby's, which plans to hold its first auction dedicated to artists' jewelry.

The assortment will include pieces by Pablo Picasso, Max Ernst, Alexander Calder, Salvador Dalí and other leading designers from the 20th century and more recent years. In what sounds like a question of why-just-collect-art-when-you-can-wear-it, the event is billed as "art as jewelry as art".

Online auctions will begin on September 24 and run until October 4.

Serious readers and buyers will find a fair amount of coins going under the hammer. The nine chapters of the event are Kinetic, Abstract Expressionism, Sculpture, Surrealism, Avant-Garde, Nonconformist, Minimalism, Modernism and Visionaries. Along with the online auction dates, the featured jewelry and accessories will be featured in the Upper East Side auction house's galleries alongside the Contemporary Curated Collection.

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In addition to the aforementioned artists, there will be items from James de Givenchy, Louise Claude Lalanne, Pol Bury, George Braque, Lucio Fontana and other influential players in the art world. Tiffany Dubin, artist jewelry specialist and head of sales at Sotheby's, said the selection of artist jewelry was intended not only to reintroduce these works to discerning customers, but also to present a defined category of art for a collection to use for adornment and self-expression. "The way we define ourselves and the art we connect with is integral to who we are and is what ultimately defines us," she said.

Online browsers, exhibition visitors and active bidders will also be able to glean more insight into the artists' experiences with jewelry and accessories. Many are familiar with the colorful kinetic mobiles and sculptures created by Calder, but they may not know that he created approximately 1,800 wearable works of art in his lifetime. The brass spiral tiara he designed, which first belonged to Lady Kenneth Clark, is expected to fetch between $200,000 and $300,000.

While there is no denying the enduring appeal of Surrealism to artists and fashion designers, this craft is often associated with Dalí. More recently, designers like Daniel Roseberry of Schiaparelli, Ulla Johnson and Marine Serre have incorporated surreal touches into their collections. The word "surrealism" first appeared in Guillaume Apollinaire's description of his 1917 play, "Les Mamelles de Tiresias", but the artistic and literary movement of the same name - which freed the subconscious and irrational - was created by the poet André Breton seven years later. The enduring, global appeal of surrealism was on display in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's "Surrealism Beyond Borders" exhibition, which ended earlier this year. This fall, an exhibit on photographer Horst P. Horst at the SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film in Atlanta will address elements of surrealism.

For some, Dalí's 1931 landscape "The Persistence of Memory" embodies surrealism. And a pair of 18-karat gold "Persistence of Sound" earrings he made in 1949 is expected to fetch between $150,000 and $200,000 at auction.

More contemporary pieces by artists like Anish Kapoor, Hiroshi Sugimoto and Carmen Herrera will also be on sale.