On the Block: Gunnila’s Tiara Sold

Countess Gunnila Bernadotte’s Tiara (Wikimedia Commons)

The lily of the valley aigrette that belonged to the late Countess Gunnila Bernadotte sold at auction at Bukowski’s in Stockholm.

(MAJA SUSLIN/AFP/Getty Images)

We discussed the tiara’s scheduled sale in a previous post, which you can read over here. Gunnila was the second wife of Count Carl Johan Bernadotte af Wisborg, who was the uncle of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden and Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. The platinum, diamond, and pearl tiara was from Gunnila’s family, and it has an aristocratic Swedish history.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The bidding for the tiara was reportedly intense, and the piece far exceeded its auction estimate. The staff at Bukowski’s had expected the tiara to fetch between 60,000 and 80,000 Swedish krona (which is about $6700-9000 USD). When the hammer fell, the tiara had sold for a whopping 343,000 krona, or about $38,000. (The royal provenance price bump is a very real thing!)