The auctioneer’s hammer has officially fallen on the magnificent Royal & Noble Jewels sale at Sotheby’s in Geneva, and today, I’ve got a look at the sale results for each of the glittering, historical pieces of jewelry that we’ve discussed here over the past several weeks. Spoiler: estimates were smashed.
Let’s start with the big one right off the bat: the diamond tassel necklace once owned by the Marquesses of Angelsey. This unusual necklace got lots of pre-sale attention for several reasons. One, it dates to the eighteenth century, and few pieces of jewelry of this caliber from that era have survived and been sold in a public auction. Two, experts at Sotheby’s stated that they believed it was possible that the necklace contains diamonds that were once set in the infamous Boehmer & Bassenge jewel that helped to bring down the French monarchy in the 1780s.
There’s no firm documented link between the two pieces, but the whiff of Marie Antoinette was enough to drive the price of this piece sky-high. Auction estimates were set at 1,600,000-2,400,000 Swiss francs (or $1,800,000-2,800,000 USD), but it ended up selling for a whopping 4,260,000 Swiss francs, or approximately $4.8 million USD.
The next highest number achieved in the sale came from this unique tie pin, which is set with gray-blue, pink, green, brown-orange, and green-yellow diamonds. The jewel belonged to Tsar Ferdinand I of Bulgaria, who reigned from 1887 to 1918. (Many of the jewels in the auction were sold by Ferdinand’s German royal descendants, children and grandchildren of his younger daughter, Princess Nadezhda.)
Ferdinand, who was a grandson of King Louis Philippe I of France and a cousin of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, loved to pile on ornaments and decorations—so much so that one cousin, Lady Helena Gleichen, revealed that he was nicknamed “the Christmas-Tree” within the family. The colorful tie pin certainly fits within that image. The estimate for the jewel was set at 450,000-600,000 Swiss francs, or approximately $500,000-700,000 USD, and when the hammer fell on Wednesday, it sold for a price comfortably within that range: 516,000 Swiss francs, or about $582,000 USD.
The descendants of Tsar Ferdinand also offered this classic diamond collet necklace as part of the sale. While the Angelsey necklace had a possible advertised connection to Marie Antoinette’s downfall, this necklace is likely set with stones that genuinely belonged to her daughter, the Duchess of Angoulême. Her diamonds, originally set in a grand tiara, were inherited by her niece and nephew, the Duchess of Parma and the Count of Chambord. They used the diamonds to make a range of new jewels for their family members. It’s likely that one of those jewels is this necklace, which was given to Princess Marie Louise of Bourbon-Parma, the Duchess of Parma’s granddaughter, when she married Tsar Ferdinand in 1893. It was later inherited by her daughter, Princess Eudoxia.
Eudoxia didn’t have children of her own, so it’s likely that the necklaces were inherited by the children of her younger sister, Princess Nadezhda. They offered it in the Sotheby’s sale for an estimated price of 90,000-130,000 Swiss francs (or around $104,000-150,000 USD). It exceeded that estimate on Wednesday, selling for the tidy sum of 156,000 Swiss francs, or around $176,000 USD.
There were also jewels in the sale that Princess Nadezhda’s descendants inherited from the relatives of their father, Duke Albrecht Eugen of Württemberg. Among them were two opal and diamond cluster brooches. These were originally clasps on a pair of pearl bracelets, wedding gifts from Grand Duchess Maria Antonietta of Tuscany (a great-aunt of Princess Marie Louise, wife of Tsar Ferdinand) to her new daughter-in-law (and niece), Princess Maria Immaculata of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, in 1861. Maria Immaculata’s daughter, also named Maria Immaculata, inherited the opal, diamond, and pearl bracelets. At some point after her wedding to Duke Robert of Württemberg in 1900, she had the clasps removed from the bracelets and remodeled to wear as brooches.
Robert and Maria Immaculata did not have children, and much of their estate was inherited by their nieces and nephews. Sotheby’s anticipated that the opal and diamond cluster brooches would sell at auction for between 13,000-22,000 Swiss francs (or around $15,000-26,000 USD). They also exceeded their estimate, selling for 31,200 Swiss francs, or around $35,000 USD.
A survey of the jewels owned by the former royal family of Bulgaria turns up pieces connected to fascinating moments in the history of the royal house. One of these is this gold, diamond, and sapphire brooch, which is said to have originally been made by Fabergé as a button for Grand Duke Vladimir, an uncle of the last Emperor of Russia. Vladimir’s wife, Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, was a first cousin of Tsar Ferdinand’s second wife, Princess Eleonore Reuss of Köstritz. When Vladimir died in 1909, Tsar Ferdinand hurried to Russia to be present in person for his funeral—a decision that had difficult diplomatic consequences, given Bulgaria’s place in the fabric of Europe at that point in time.
Grand Duchess Vladimir had this button transformed into a piece of mourning jewelry, engraving her late husband’s initials and date of death on the back of the piece. She either gave it directly to Ferdinand or asked him to pass it along to one of his family members. The brooch ended up with his younger daughter, Princess Nadezhda, who left it to her descendants. They offered it for sale at Sotheby’s with an auction estimate of 5,500-7,000 Swiss francs, or approximately $6,300-8,000 USD. When the hammer fell on Wednesday, the brooch brought far more than that, selling for 21,600 Swiss francs, or about $24,000 USD.
One of the most important influences in Tsar Ferdinand’s life was his mother, Princess Clémentine of Orléans. As a daughter of King Louis Philippe I of France, she lived through her father’s reign and the difficult years of exile that followed his abdication. Fiercely proud of her French royal roots, she was the original owner of this patriotic bracelet, which is decorated with the fleur-de-lis symbol of the royal house in blue, white, and red gems. The bracelet was made by J.&P. Bapst & Fils decades after her family lost their French throne.
The jewel was inherited by Clémentine’s descendants, who offered it in the Sotheby’s sale. The auction estimate for the piece was set at 26,000-42,000 Swiss francs, or around $30,000-49,000 USD. The bracelet ended up selling for just under that estimated amount: 25,200 Swiss francs, or about $28,000 USD.
And then there were the tiaras: diadems, bandeaux, and other headpieces. Among them was the sparkling bridal bandeau worn by Tsar Ferdinand’s daughter, Princess Nadezhda, when she married Duke Albrecht Eugen of Württemberg in 1924. The petite tiara dates to the 1890s and is thought to have come from the collection of Nadezhda’s mother, Princess Marie Louise of Bourbon-Parma. Sotheby’s believes that the jewel was likely made for Marie Louise by a Viennese firm, Rothe & Neffe.
The tiara was later worn by Nadezhda’s descendants, including her daughter, Duchess Sophie Eudoxia, who is still alive today. The auction estimate for the piece was set by Sotheby’s at 70,000-100,000 Swiss francs, or around $79,000-113,000 USD. It ended up going for more than double that, selling for a whopping 264,000 Swiss francs, or about $298,000 USD.
Tsar Ferdinand’s elder daughter, Princess Eudoxia, also inherited a tiara from her mother’s collection. This classic diamond aigrette, complete with a feather, was given to Princess Marie Louise of Bourbon-Parma by her mother-in-law, Princess Clementine of Orléans, in the 1890s. The headpieces were at the height of their popularity during that decade, so the gift was a particularly fashionable one.
Eudoxia inherited the ornament sometime after her mother’s untimely passing in 1899, and she presumably passed it along to her Württemberg nieces and nephews when she died in 1985. Sotheby’s expected that the aigrette would sell at auction for 8,500-13,000 Swiss francs, or approximately $9,700-$15,000 USD. When the hammer fell on Wednesday, the ornament fetched more than that, selling for 18,000 Swiss francs, or about $20,000 USD.
This glamorous diamond and opal tiara also made its way into the auction via Princess Nadezhda’s Württemberg in-laws. Nadezhda’s father-in-law, Albrecht, Duke of Württemberg, joined together with his brother, Duke Ulrich, and his sister, Princess Maria Isabella of Saxony, to acquire the tiara for their new sister-in-law, Archduchess Maria Immaculata of Austria, when she married their brother, Duke Robert, in 1900. That’s the same Maria Immaculata mentioned above with the opal brooches—she had numerous pieces of opal jewelry, several of which were included in the Sotheby’s sale.
The tiara was purchased from the Dresden court jeweller Elimeyer in Saxony, probably by Princess Maria Isabella. Its auction estimate was set by Sotheby’s at 17,000-26,000 Swiss francs (or about $19,000-$30,000 USD). In the end, it sold for almost triple the high end of that estimate, bringing 74,400 Swiss francs, or around $84,000 USD.
Not all of the jewels included in the auction came from the former royal families of Bulgaria and Württemberg. There were also pieces offered by members of different branches of the former Bavarian royal family. This bandeau, described by Sotheby’s as “three slightly graduated rows collet-set with old cushion-shaped and circular-cut diamonds,” comes from the collection of the ducal branch of the family.
The auction estimate for the tiara was set at between 5,500-8,500 Swiss francs, or about $6,300-$9,700 USD, which struck me as quite affordable. It ended up going for more than that, selling for a very respectable 13,200 Swiss francs, or around $15,000 USD.
The most spectacular tiara offered by the Bavarian royals is this dynamic ears-of-wheat tiara, made by Nitot around the time of the marriage of King Ludwig I and Queen Therese of Bavaria in 1810. The tiara is a fascinating relic of the link between the Bavarians and the Bonaparte family in France in the first decade of the nineteenth century. A similar tiara, also made by Nitot, belonged to Napoleon’s sister, Paulina Bonaparte Borghese.
Sotheby’s anticipated that big things would come from the sale of the tiara, setting its auction estimate at 110,000-160,000 Swiss francs (or about $125,500-$183,000 USD). They were right, but they didn’t dream nearly high enough where the sale price of the jewel was concerned. When the auction had concluded on Wednesday, the tiara had sold for 552,000 Swiss francs, or around $622,000 USD.
There was one more minor Bavarian royal tiara in the auction catalogue as well: this simple diadem of diamond stars. The tiara, with its detachable star ornaments, dates to around 1880, and the central star can be worn separately as a brooch. The jewel was advertised with a fitted case from a Viennese jewelry firm, Vincenz Mayer Sons, who were known for producing the insignia for the imperial orders and decorations at the Habsburg court. The Austrian and Bavarian royal families had numerous ties. For one, Emperor Franz Joseph and his wife, Empress Elisabeth, were both grandchildren of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria.
The auction estimate for the smaller tiara was fairly modest, fixed at 8,500-13,000 Swiss francs, or around $9,700-$15,000 USD. It too managed to exceed its estimate, selling for 38,400 Swiss francs, or about $43,000 USD.
My personal favorite tiara offered in the auction was this diamond kokoshnik, made by the German jewelry firm Koch around 1910. The jewel was offered by an unnamed “member of the European high nobility.” That person appears to possibly be a family member of Princess Margarita of Baden, one of the nieces of the late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. She was photographed wearing a very similar tiara, if not the same piece, and it’s possible that it’s her tiara that was sold this week at Sotheby’s.
Without a clear connection to a royal princess—the so-called “royal bump” in price—the auction estimate for the tiara was set fairly low, at 8,500-13,000 Swiss francs, or about $9,700-$15,000 USD. When the hammer fell on Wednesday, however, the final price was much, much higher: 72,000 Swiss francs, or around $81,000 USD.
There were too many fabulous pieces included in the auction to cover all of them here at The Court Jeweller, but earlier this week I also featured a few more items that I thought might be of interest. These included a collection of presentation cufflinks, given to royal men as a souvenir of an occasion or an anniversary. The lots we highlighted included: a collection of cufflinks set with French coins, which sold for 10,800 Swiss francs (about $12,000 USD); a pair of cufflinks made to mark the 70th birthday of Duke Albrecht of Württemberg, which sold with a ring for 4,560 Swiss francs (about $5,100 USD); a collection of gold, sapphire, and enamel presentation cufflinks, which sold for 9,600 Swiss francs (about $10,8oo USD); and two sets of presentation cufflinks with the cypher of Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria, which sold for 10,200 Swiss francs (about $11,500 USD).
And finally, just a few days ago I featured this pair of dazzling diamond bracelets that once belonged to Tsar Ferdinand’s niece, Archduchess Margarethe Klementine of Austria, who married the 8th Prince of Thurn und Taxis in 1890. Her grandson’s wife, Princess Gloria, sold the bracelets and a matching choker necklace in a major jewelry sale at Sotheby’s in 1992, mounted to pay off the staggering debts left behind by her late husband, Prince Johannes.
The Sotheby’s auction estimate for the pair of bracelets this time around was set at 40,000-60,000 Swiss francs, or around $45,000-68,000 USD. These jewels too far exceeded those expectations, selling for an impressive 264,000 Swiss francs, or about $298,000 USD.
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