The week of the big Sotheby’s royal jewelry sale has arrived, and there are still a few items from the catalogue that I wanted to do a deep dive on here. Today, let’s take a closer look at some examples of often-hidden royal jewelry for men: cufflinks!
When you look at portraits of Tsar Ferdinand I of Bulgaria, the source of many of the pieces included in the upcoming sale, you might guess that he owned an impressive collection of tie pins, rings, and cufflinks. Indeed, the auction includes cufflinks that belonged not only to Ferdinand but also to members of his extended family.
This lot from the auction includes three sets of cufflinks that belonged to Ferdinand himself, as well as a coordinating pendant and brooch. All of the pieces in the group are set with antique coins. These are francs from the reign of King Louis XVIII of France, who reigned for a decade following the Bourbon Restoration of 1814. He was the brother of the late King Louis XVI. His cousin, King Louis Philippe, was Tsar Ferdinand’s grandfather. It seems very likely that Ferdinand’s mother, the formidable Princess Clémentine of Orléans, surely had a hand in acquiring these jewels for her son, perhaps as a reminder of his French royal heritage. The lot is expected to sell for between 4,000-5,500 Swiss francs, or about $4,500-$6,300 USD.
There are numerous other examples of cufflinks in the auction–eighteen lots in total that include cufflinks, in fact. I’m going to highlight a few more royal examples of presentation cufflinks, which were given as gifts to show favor or to commemorate various royal occasions. One of the most striking sets is this pair of gold cufflinks, which feature the years 1865 and 1935 rendered in diamonds, sapphires, and rubies.
The cufflinks belonged to Duke Albrecht of Württemberg, whose son, Albrecht Eugen, married Tsar Ferdinand’s younger daughter, Princess Nadezhda of Bulgaria. They were a gift to Albrecht, who was born in 1865, to celebrate his 70th birthday in 1935. They’re being sold with a ruby and gold ring, also from Albrecht’s collection. The ring is inscribed with the date “January 24,” which was his wedding anniversary. The lot is estimated to sell for between 1,100-1,800 Swiss francs, or about $1,300-$2,000 USD.
More cufflinks from the Württemberg family are also included in the sale. One of the related lots features this pair of cufflinks, which were made by the Austrian jeweler August Haarstrick. They feature a blue enamelled letter A on a gold backdrop. Could these also have belonged to Duke Albrecht, or perhaps to his son, Albrecht Eugen?
The same lot includes an intriguing pair of presentation cufflinks emblazoned with the name “Ludwig Victor.” The cufflinks, Sotheby’s tells us, “were given by Archduke Ludwig Victor of Austria (1842–1919), the youngest brother of Emperor Franz Joseph, to Robert, Duke of Württemberg (1873-1947).”
Archduke Ludwig Victor and Duke Robert were cousins. They were also linked through marriage: Robert’s sister-in-law, Archduchess Margarete Sophia of Austria, was Ludwig Victor’s niece. In 1900, Robert also married another member of the Habsburg family: Archduchess Maria Immakulata of Austria.
In the same lot with the previous two cufflink sets is this attractive pair of gold cufflinks with sapphire accents. These are souvenirs from a royal wedding: the nuptials of Princess Maria Francesca of Savoy, daughter of King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, and Prince Louis of Bourbon-Parma in 1939. Louis was the son of Robert, Duke of Parma and his second wife, Infanta Maria Antonia of Portugal. (That made him a half-brother of Princess Marie Louise of Bourbon-Parma, the wife of Tsar Ferdinand of Bulgaria, but Louis was born several months after Marie Louise’s death in 1899.)
The decorations on the cufflinks depict the emblems of the royal houses of the bride and groom at the wedding. Princess Maria Francesca’s Savoyard heritage is represented by the blue enamel Savoy knots on the cufflinks, while the sapphire fleur-de-lis elements are a nod to the groom’s branch of the House of Bourbon.
The are two more blue and gold cufflink sets in the lot: these Swedish Royal presentation cufflinks, which are decorated with three coronets applied with blue enamel. The cufflinks were made around 1960 by the Scandinavian firm Sporrong. Exactly who owned them, and which occasion they were presented to memorialize, isn’t shared in the Sotheby’s lot notes. In this week’s auction, the Swedish presentation cufflinks will be offered in a single lot along with the letter A cufflinks, the Ludwig Victor cufflinks, and the Bourbon/Savoy cufflinks. The blue and gold collection has an auction estimate of 1,900-2,600 Swiss francs, or around $2,200-$3,000 USD.
The final cufflink lot that I’ll highlight today features two sets of cufflinks that also come from the former Bulgarian royal family. Sotheby’s describes these as “a pair of gold presentation cufflinks featuring the cipher of Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria set with rose diamonds and a crown applied with red enamel” and “a pair of presentation cufflinks of similar design applied with red guilloché enamel, accented by circular-cut sapphires and rose diamonds.” Each pair comes with a fitted case.
Both pairs of cufflinks were gifts from Tsar Boris III and Tsaritsa Giovanna of Bulgaria to their family members. On April 3, 1943, Boris offered the red cufflinks as a birthday present to his nephew, Duke Ferdinand Eugen of Württemberg, who was turning 18. A few months later, Boris died in mysterious circumstances after returning from a trip to Germany. Many believe that he was poisoned. After Boris’s death, his widow, Giovanna, presented the gold cufflinks to another nephew–either Duke Eugen Eberhard or Duke Alexander Eugen–in memory of their late uncle. The two sets of cufflinks will be sold together, and Sotheby’s expects them to bring between 800-1,100 Swiss francs, or approximately $900-$1,300 USD.
You may have wondered why I singled out King Charles as a potential purchaser in the title of today’s post. It’s because he actually already owns another piece of jewelry featuring the royal cypher of Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria. He’s often photographed at events like Royal Ascot wearing a tie pin with the tsar’s cypher. Perhaps he’ll want to add more antique royal pieces to his collection?
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