Photo Credit: Christies Auction House

Last week was a banner one for lovers and connoisseurs of jewelry with links to royal families, maintaining the upward trend of online purchases of these high-ticket items. On November 9, a pair of diamond bracelets once owned by the doomed French queen Marie Antoinette fetched $8.2 million at Christie’s Magnificent Jewels auction in Geneva, Switzerland. The bracelets smashed their pre-sale estimate, set at $2-4 million. Bids were entered in person, online, and via telephone for a dynamic auction that attracted potential buyers from around the world. The bracelets, containing approximately 140-150 carats of diamonds, were sent out of France by the queen for safekeeping in 1791, just two years before her execution. The queen’s surviving daughter, Marie Therese, received the jewels upon arriving in Austria. Since then, the “extraordinary” bracelets remained intact in a private European royal collection, making them particularly attractive to collectors. This is even more remarkable since jewels of royal provenance are often broken down into smaller pieces, as occurred with the infamous piece at the heart of the “Diamond Necklace Affair.” It is believed that the bracelets were made by Marie Antoinette’s personal jeweler due to their symmetry and elegant design, with an antique cut that provides a “unique charm” for the modern eye. It seems that collectors have a habit of losing their heads over the queen’s former possessions; in 2018, a pearl and diamond pendant fetched over $36 million at auction, shattering the pre-sale estimate of $1-2 million and setting a new auction record for a pearl.

Meanwhile, Sotheby’s semi-annual sale last Wednesday featured royal jewels smuggled out of Russia during the 1917 revolution. The jewels include a rare orange-pink diamond ring weighing 25.62 carats originally estimated at $4-6 million, as well as a large sapphire and diamond brooch and matching ear clips that belonged to Tsar Nicholas II’s aunt (Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna the Elder), estimated at $300,000-$500,000. The brooch’s sapphire, hailing from Sri Lanka, weighs 26.80 carats while the ear clips’ sapphires weigh 6.69 and 9.36 carats, respectively. This set fetched $850,000, nearly double their projected value, reflecting the high level of interest in their “storied provenance.” The Grand Duchess had entrusted 244 jewels from her legendary collection to a British diplomat, who wrapped them in newspaper for protection and set out for London by sea. The steamer carrying the diplomat nearly ran into a mine off the coast of Norway, but luckily managed to avoid disaster and the passengers reached their destination safely. One of the other jewels from this collection, the Vladimir Tiara, is now owned by Queen Elizabeth II.