WILL Queen Elizabeth wear emeralds during her state visit to Ireland next week? She owns some of the world’s most perfect examples of the precious green stones including the famous Cambridge emeralds she inherited from her grandmother, Queen Mary. These she occasionally wears in the Vladimir Tiara at formal events.
Wearing a tiara requires skill and poise as this anecdote reported in Country Life magazine reveals: “Two high-ranking women had fostered a long and mutual loathing, but related by marriage, were obliged to kiss in public. On one of these occasions, their tiaras locked together, and they had to be removed from the ballroom of Buckingham Palace locked in conflict, like a pair of rutting stags.”
So it’s a case of buyer beware on Tuesday, at Sotheby’s in Geneva for what it calls the “the most important emerald and diamond tiara to have appeared at auction in over 30 years”. Made for a German princess in 1900, the sumptuous diadem is composed of 11 “exceptionally rare Colombian emerald pear-shaped drops which weigh over 500 carats”.
The estimate is CHF 4.6-9.2 million (€3.5 million-€7 million). The auction also includes a superb Cartier ivory, sapphire and diamond brooch, dating from circa 1960, and gifted by the Duchess of Windsor (Wallis Simpson) to Oonagh Shanley-Toffolo, the nurse chosen to take care of the Duke of Windsor during his final illness. Featuring a miniature carnation, the Duke’s favourite flower, the brooch is estimated at CHF 12,000-18,000. – MP
Sotheby’s Magnificent Noble Jewels, Hôtel Beau-Rivage, Geneva, Switzerland, May 17th
