Editor’s Note
A piece of Napoleonic history shattered expectations at auction this week, as a diamond brooch left behind after the Battle of Waterloo sold for a staggering €3.79 million—far surpassing its pre-sale estimate.
A historical brooch belonging to Napoleon Bonaparte has been auctioned in Geneva for a record sum of 3.79 million euros. The diamond-studded brooch, which the French emperor had to leave behind in 1815 after the lost Battle of Waterloo, far exceeded expectations on Wednesday. According to the auction house Sotheby’s, it had been estimated at 120,000 to 200,000 Swiss francs (approximately 128,800 to 214,600 euros).
The circular brooch, made for Napoleon in 1810, has a diameter of about 45 millimeters. At its center is a 13.04-carat diamond, surrounded by nearly a hundred smaller diamonds. According to the auction house, the piece of jewelry was “presumably intended to adorn his bicorne hat on special occasions.”
The brooch was in one of the carriages that got stuck in the mud during Napoleon’s hasty flight from Waterloo. On June 21, 1815, three days after the Battle of Waterloo, it was presented to Prussian King Frederick William III as a war trophy.
Meanwhile, the auction of a 10.08-carat pink diamond, announced by Sotheby’s for Wednesday and which the auction house said could have fetched more than 17 million euros, was canceled at short notice.
Already on Tuesday, the auction house Christie’s, also in Geneva, sold a 9.51-carat, vivid blue diamond estimated to be worth up to 26 million euros.