Sotheby’s to Sell Marie Antoinette’s Jewels

RAPAPORT… Sotheby’s will offer historic jewels from the royal Bourbon-Parma family at its Geneva sale in November, led by pieces that belonged to
Marie Antoinette.



“It is one of the most important royal jewelry collections
ever to appear on the market,” Daniela Mascetti, Sotheby’s deputy chairman of jewelry for Europe, said Wednesday. The
collection has not been seen in public for 200 years, the auction house added.


In 1791, while preparing her family’s escape from France, Marie Antoinette wrapped her jewelry and shipped it to Brussels,
which was under the rule of her sister Archduchess Marie-Christine, according to accounts from her lady-in-waiting. After it
reached the Belgian city, it was then sent to Vienna to Marie Antoinette’s
nephew, the emperor of Austria.



The jewels in her collection include a diamond pendant and
natural pearl necklace, estimated at $1 million to $2 million; a pearl necklace
containing 331 natural pearls, with a presale estimate of $200,000 to $300,000;
and a pair of natural pearl earrings, valued at $30,000 to $50,000.



Also going under the hammer is a diamond tiara with a
foliate scroll design, given by Emperor Franz Joseph to his great-niece,
Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria, upon her wedding to Elias of Bourbon, duke
of Parma, in 1902. The piece, estimated at $80,000 to $120,000, was created by
Viennese jeweler Köchert.



The auction will feature several other jewels from the
archduchess’s collection, including a diamond bow brooch containing a 6.89-carat
Burmese ruby, which carries a presale estimate of $200,000 to $300,000. Other
lots include a diamond ring set with a 2.44-carat, fancy orangey-pink diamond.
The archduchess received both the brooch and the ring from her father to mark
the births of her sons.



Highlights from the collection will go on tour beginning in
Milan on June 27, Munich on September 18 and Cologne on September 21. They will
also appear in London, New York, Hong Kong and Geneva before the November 12
auction in Geneva.