Very few can afford these jewels, but we can all dream of them and the stories behind them. Renowned auction house Sotheby’s is preparing to hold one of its most anticipated annual events, the Auction of Royal and Noble Jewels, on November 12 at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Geneva. The collection contains extraordinary pieces which, after years in private hands or royal collections, are now looking for new owners.
Although online bidding has been active since the end of October, the auction will officially begin on Wednesday. This year’s main lot is a diamond brooch belonging to Napoleon Bonaparte, which he lost at the Battle of Waterloo (1815). It is estimated to have a starting price of between $150,000 and $250,000. The auction also includes other spectacular jewels, such as a unique hair ornament, created around 1840, which will be auctioned together with a brooch with natural pearls and diamonds that belonged to a European noble family. Also included are jewels that belonged to the last Ottoman princess, Fatma Neslisah (died aged 91 in 2012), and a magnificent selection of tiaras.
The beauty of the Napoleon piece is equaled only by its historical significance: it is a circular diamond brooch, approximately 45 millimeters in diameter, with a large oval diamond weighing 13.04 carats in the center; The nearly one hundred ancient mined diamonds surrounding it, of various shapes and sizes, are arranged in two concentric rows. It was created for Napoleon around 1810, most likely to adorn his bicorn hat on special occasions.
As for its historical value, the brooch was among the personal effects the emperor took with him to Waterloo, including medals, weapons, silverware, a hat, and a jewelry box containing dozens of loose diamonds and other jewelry. On 18 June 1815, in his haste to escape from Waterloo, after his troops had been crushed by the British and Prussian armies, Napoleon had to abandon some of his carriages which were stranded on a muddy road a few miles from the battlefield, including the one containing the brooch. It was later offered as a war trophy to the Prussian king Frederick William III on 21 June 1815, just three days after the battle. It belonged to the German Hohenzollern dynasty for centuries before ending up in another private collection, where it remained for several years. Now it will be auctioned for the first time at the Sotheby’s event, along with another Napoleon jewel, a 132.66-carat unmounted emerald – with a starting price of between $39,000 and $59,000 – that Emperor Napoleon I wore at his coronation in 1804 and which also belonged to the Hohenzollerns.
Another highly anticipated lot is the spectacular ring with diamonds and pink diamonds, weighing over 13 carats, from the collection of Princess Fatma Neslisah (1921-2012), a jewel also offered at auction for the first time. This piece testifies to the decline of one of the most historically significant royal dynasties, the Ottoman one. Its owner was the last to have his birth registered in the palace register of members of his dynasty before the fall of the once powerful Ottoman Empire. She was thus the last person to officially receive the title of “Sultan”, or Princess of Imperial Blood, and embodied the end of an era of unbridled opulence, both in her native Turkey and in Egypt, where she married Muhammad Abdel Moneim (1899-1979), heir to the last ruling house of the Arab country, overthrown during the Egyptian Revolution of 1952.
Among the other precious jewels included in the Sotheby’s auction, a set of hair accessories and brooches stands out. Estimated at between $422,000 and $620,000, it presents itself as a stunning example of Romantic era jewelry. The ornament is exceptionally rare, perhaps the last known example of a jeweled hair ornament designed to frame the face. According to family tradition, the important collection of natural pearls that adorn the jewel and its brooch belonged to Kunigunde of Saxony, Marchioness of Montoro (1774–1820), cousin of King Louis XVI.
In 2024, Sotheby’s Royal & Noble Jewels auction offered for sale a rare and historic 300-carat 18th-century diamond necklace that had belonged to the Marquesses of Anglesey – with possible links to Queen Marie Antoinette – one of the most exceptional Georgian jewels in private hands, sold for $4.8 million.
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