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Queen Therese of Bavaria (Wikimedia Commons) |
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Queen Amalia of Greece (Wikimedia Commons) |
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Princess Anna of Bavaria, 2010 (Wikimedia Commons) |
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Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World
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Queen Therese of Bavaria (Wikimedia Commons) |
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Queen Amalia of Greece (Wikimedia Commons) |
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Princess Anna of Bavaria, 2010 (Wikimedia Commons) |
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Christie’s |
An intriguing set of topazes with a fascinating royal backstory will be hitting the auction block later this month! Here’s what we know about the topaz parure that belonged to Princess Amelia, daughter of King George III.
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The set of topaz and diamond jewelry dates to the start of the nineteenth century. According to tradition, it belonged to Princess Amelia, the fifteenth and youngest child of King George III and Queen Charlotte. The set is certainly reminiscent of other jewelry suites from the period; consider its resemblance, for example, to the Cotes Peridots. The suite is a complete parure, with a bandeau-style tiara and accompanying necklace, earrings, and brooches.
Princess Amelia of the United Kingdom, ca. 1797 (Wikimedia Commons) |
Princess Amelia had a short life. She was only twenty-seven when she died, and much of her adult life was spent dealing with and convalescing from various illnesses. She never married, though she was deeply in love with a royal equerry, the Hon. Charles FitzRoy (who, as his surname suggests, was a descendant of King Charles II). When she died in 1810, she was much mourned by the royal family. Many believe that her death was one of the pivotal events that hastened her father’s mental and physical decline.
The Hon. George Villiers and his wife, Theresa (Wikimedia Commons) |
Though she bequeathed her property to Charles FitzRoy, this suite of topaz jewelry ended up with another pair of courtiers, the Hon. George Villiers and his wife, Theresa. They were close friends of Amelia (and the auction notes for this set describes Theresa as one of her ladies-in-waiting), so it seems plausible that she might have left them the suite. It’s also notable that the couple became significantly embroiled in royal scandal after Amelia’s death. George Villiers was Paymaster of the Marines, and an audit of his bookkeeping revealed major irregularities. On top of his financial crimes, after Amelia’s death, George and Theresa attempted to blackmail the royal family by threatening to publish some of Amelia’s letters.
Lilias, Countess of Bathurst, ca. 1902 (Wikimedia Commons) |
The topazes have stayed with George and Theresa’s descendants until now. They were passed down to her daughter, Maria Theresa, who married the novelist Thomas Henry Lister. Their granddaughter, Lilias Borthwick, married the 7th Earl Bathurst; she also later owned the topazes. Lilias is best known for her inheritance of The Morning Post in 1908, making her the only female owner of a major newspaper in the world. (Unfortunately, she did not use the outlet for good. During Lilias’s tenure as owner, the paper advanced imperial and anti-semitic causes.) The topazes were later inherited by Lilias’s grandson, the 8th Earl Bathurst. They are now being offered at auction by the heirs of his late wife, Gloria.
Christie’s |
Here’s a closer look at the various pieces of the suite, which is being auctioned by Christie’s in London. The bandeau-style tiara, described in the auction notes as “a topaz collet headband,” is an interesting piece. Note the small bale attached to one of the stones, which suggests that it was designed to be attached to another piece, perhaps a pendant?
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The suite’s necklace features large topazes interspersed with old-cut diamond spacers. There’s also large open bale on the necklace to allow it to be worn with a pendant.
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The suite includes three separate pairs of earrings. This is one of the pairs that was apparently an original part of the set; it features topaz studs and large topaz pendants. The auction notes describe this pair as having been “adapted” later.
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This pair of topaz stud earrings is also apparently an original part of the suite. These are also described as having been adapted.
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The third pair of earrings is a later addition to the suite. These feature topazes in a diamond halo surround. The topazes are a clear match to the rest of the topazes in the suite, suggesting that it’s the diamond setting that is a later addition.
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This ornament is described in the notes as “a pear shaped topaz and old-cut diamond pendant brooch with diamond detail.” It was apparently an original part of the suite, but has also been “adapted” at some point. It’s able to be worn as both a pendant (note the diamond-set loop at the top of the piece) and as a brooch (note the pin of the brooch fitting sticking out from the bottom of the pear-shaped topaz).
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The set includes one more later addition: “an associated topaz double headed serpent brooch.” It’s a very interesting part of the suite.
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Here’s a look at the entire suite of jewelry. The topazes will be auctioned at Christie’s in London, along with more property owned by the late Gloria, Countess of Bathurst, on July 22. The estimate for the entire set has been set at 18,000-25,000 pounds (or approximately $22,000 to $31,000 USD). Anyone in the market for some royal topazes???
Bruun Rasmussen |
Fabergé lovers rejoice: a royal Easter egg pendant has resurfaced, and it will be sold at auction in June! Here are all the details on this unusual nautical egg.
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The egg pendant will be sold by Danish auction house Bruun Rasmussen. Their notes describe it as “a Russian Easter egg pendant with blue translucent enamel on guilloched ground, set with anchor formed 14k gold cagework.” The bauble was made in St. Petersburg at the end of the nineteenth century.
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The pendant was made by August Holmström, the Finnish-born craftsman who served as Fabergé’s head jeweler at the end of the nineteenth century. His son, daughter, and granddaughter were also talented jewelers who produced notable work for the firm.
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Holmström’s name may be familiar to you because he also crafted some other interesting royal jewels. He produced the Leuchtenberg Fabergé Tiara around 1890…
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…and this spectacular star sapphire and diamond pendant brooch, made ca. 1900 for Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, who is better known to us as Grand Duchess Vladimir.
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Here’s a closer look at the egg pendant, with its bright golden anchors and its luminous enamel and Guilloché work, which reminds me a little of fish scales or even tiny waves. There’s a strong emphasis here on the word “tiny,” as the entire pendant, including its loop, measures in at a petite 2.5 centimeters.
Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images |
You can get a better sense of the scale of these pendants in this photo of Queen Sofia of Spain, who often wears a necklace full of egg pendants for Easter Sunday services in Palma de Mallorca. Many think at least some of her pendants could be Fabergé pieces.
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The first known royal owner of the nautical egg pendant was, appropriately enough, a Romanov. Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna was a granddaughter of Tsar Nicholas I. In 1879, she married Grand Duke Friedrich Franz III of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. She was a fascinating and sometimes scandalous royal woman, with an affinity for gambling and beautiful jewelry. Like many members of her family, she was also a major admirer of Fabergé.
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In fact, Anastasia loved Fabergé so much that she helped engineer the creations of two magnificent tiaras from the firm at the start of the twentieth century. This diamond and aquamarine stunner was made by the jeweler as a wedding present for her new daughter-in-law, Princess Alexandra of Hanover, in 1904. Anastasia had encouraged her son, Grand Duke Friedrich Franz IV, to secure a Fabergé tiara to offer his new wife as her wedding present, and this piece was the result.
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A year later, Anastasia was again involved in the creation of another sparkler. This diamond tiara was a wedding gift to Anastasia’s younger daughter, Cecilie, on her marriage to Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany in 1905. The piece was given to Cecilie by a group of her Russian imperial relatives, and correspondence about the tiara between the jewelry firm and Anastasia herself reportedly exists.
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The nautical egg pendant ended up with Anastasia’s elder daughter, Alexandrine. In 1898, Alexandrine married the future King Christian IX of Denmark. When Anastasia gifted or bequeathed the pendant to Queen Alexandrine, the piece became a part of the Danish royal family’s collection.
Wikimedia Commons, Sean Gallup/Getty Images |
From Queen Alexandrine, the pendant passed to her younger son, Hereditary Prince Knud. And then, from him, the pendant moved into the collection of his only daughter, Princess Elisabeth of Denmark. She inherited several pieces of grand jewelry from Anastasia and Alexandrine.
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Along with the egg pendant, Elisabeth was also the proud owner of the diamond brooch that Anastasia received when she attended the coronation of Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra in 1896. The new imperial couple commissioned brooches in the shape of the Russian imperial crown as gifts for each of the grand duchesses attending the festivities. Like the egg, the brooch is also the work of Fabergé. When Elisabeth died in 2018, she bequeathed the brooch to the Danish Royal Collection, to be housed at the Amalienborg Museum.
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The egg pendant is currently owned by a Danish private citizen, and Bruun Rasmussen will sell it in their auction of Russian items on June 10. It can be yours for an estimated 30,000-50,000 Danish krone (or about $4400-$7400 USD)! (See the whole auction catalogue here!)