Russian royal jewels smuggled out of the country during the 1917 revolution, alongside rare coloured diamonds, are on offer at auction next week in Geneva.
An orange-pink diamond weighing 25.62 carats, estimated at 3.6 million to 5.38 million Swiss francs ($3.9 million to $5.9 million), set in a ring, is the star lot at auction house Sotheby’s semi-annual jewellery sale on Nov. 10.
«The market is currently very dynamic and after the pandemic people are very keen to buy jewellery today and to buy something tangible they can enjoy,» Olivier Wagner, head of sale and jewellery expert at Sotheby’s Geneva, told Reuters.
For collectors of historic gems, a large oval sapphire and diamond brooch and matching ear clips from the jewellery box of Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, the aunt of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II, is back on the block.
The royal set, entrusted to her friend the British diplomat Albert Henry Stopford, who took them to London for safekeeping along with other jewels, is estimated at 280,000-480,000 francs.
Maria Pavlovna escaped from revolutionary Russia and died in France in 1920. Her brooch and earrings are being sold by a European princely family who bought them at auction in 2009.
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