The Sotheby’s event, Royal & Noble Jewels, concluded on 12 November. The headline piece was a circular brooch featuring a 13-carat oval diamond, surrounded by approximately 100 additional old-mine and mazarin-cut diamonds.
The piece is believed to have been created around 1810 and was discovered abandoned by Prussian forces after the French withdrawal from the decisive Battle of Waterloo in 1815.
Napoleon’s diamond brooch entered the auction with a pre-sale estimate of $USD150,000 ($AUD229,000); however, after 10 minutes of bidding, it was claimed by an anonymous buyer for a remarkable $USD4.4 million ($AUD6.74 million).
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| The 132.66-carat emerald that Emperor Napoleon I wore at his coronation in 1804. | Source: El País/Robert Hradil |
“Napoleon, who had worn the item as a hat ornament, lost the brooch — along with medals, a sword, silverware, a hat and a jewellery box — as he beat a hasty retreat from Waterloo,” explained Jenny Gross in a report for the New York Times.
“His defeat to a coalition of European armies, led by Britain’s Duke of Wellington and Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher of Prussia, ended his reign as emperor of France, and his quest to dominate Europe. As his French forces fled the battlefield, their carriages were slowed by muddy roads.”
She added: “Marshall von Blücher sent Napoleon’s captured hat and sword to the Prussian king, Frederick William III, while Prussian officers took some of the jewels for themselves.”
The diamond brooch remained in the Hohenzollern Royal Collection before passing into private ownership. Another item of note at this auction was a 132-carat green beryl, supposedly worn by Napoleon during his coronation in 1804. That piece was sold for $USD1 million ($AUD1.53 million) to a US museum.
Public interest around this auction has undoubtedly been bolstered by the recent theft of the French Crown Jewels from the Louvre Museum in Paris.
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