Editor’s Note
A piece of history will cross the auction block next week as Sotheby’s Geneva offers a diamond brooch once belonging to Napoleon Bonaparte, seized after the Battle of Waterloo. This highlight of Geneva’s luxury sales week is estimated to fetch between €130,000 and €220,000.
Jewelry estimated at tens of millions of euros and a brooch belonging to Napoleon Bonaparte, seized at Waterloo, will be offered at auction next week during Geneva’s luxury week. A sale to watch at Sotheby’s on November 12 will feature a diamond-adorned brooch that belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte and was recovered by the Prussian army on the plain of Waterloo. The piece, estimated between 130,000 and 220,000 euros, was among the personal effects the emperor had to abandon during his flight from British and Prussian soldiers following the famous battle.
The circular brooch, approximately 45 mm in diameter, features at its center a large 13.04-carat oval diamond, surrounded by nearly a hundred old mine-cut diamonds of various shapes and sizes, arranged in two concentric rows. This unique piece was created for Napoleon around 1810.
clarifies the auction house. It was later given, among other objects, to King Frederick William III of Prussia as a war trophy on June 21, 1815, just three days after the Battle of Waterloo.
Another highly anticipated sale will feature the “Mellon blue,” a vivid blue diamond of 9.51 carats.
mounted on a ring, announces Christie’s, estimating its value between 20 and 30 million dollars. This stone, originally mounted as a pendant, belonged for decades to Rachel Lambert Mellon, better known as Bunny Mellon (1910-2014), an American horticulturist, philanthropist, and art collector, notably known for redesigning the White House Rose Garden in 1961 at the request of President John F. Kennedy.
exclaimed Rahul Kadakia, International Head of Jewelry at Christie’s.
estimated Tobias Kormind, Managing Director of “77 Diamonds,” Europe’s largest online diamond jeweler. He specified that this record is currently held by the Blue Moon of Josephine, sold for over 48 million dollars in 2015, or 4.1 million dollars per carat.
At Sotheby’s, the centerpiece of next week’s sales will be “The Glowing Rose” or “Rose éclatante,” a vivid pink diamond of 10.08 carats with rounded corners and broad facets. Named for its luminous and pure pink color, a characteristic
according to Sotheby’s. This diamond, estimated at around 20 million dollars, will be sold on November 12. The week will also feature traditional sales of prestigious watches, such as the Rolex Oyster, one of the first waterproof wristwatches worn by endurance swimmer Mercedes Gleitze (1900-1981), the first British woman to swim across the English Channel. It will be sold on November 9 at Sotheby’s for an estimated price of over 1.1 million euros.