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This photo taken in Geneva on September 6, 2021 shows one of the two bracelets that belonged to the Queen of France Marie-Antoinette adorned with three rows of 112 old-cut diamonds, which will be offered for sale for the first time at the estimated price of 2 – 4
A diamond bracelet that once belonged to Frenchwoman Marie Antoinette and a sapphire and diamond brooch with matching ear clips that once hung from a Russian Grand Duchess are among the items featured in the jewelry and other collectibles auction next week in Geneva.
A pair of high-top Nike sneakers from late NBA star Kobe Bryant will also go under the hammer in the lakeside town of Switzerland.
The Nike Air Zoom Huarache 2K4 blue, white and gold basketball shoes are expected to fetch up to 35,000 Swiss francs (approximately $ 38,000) at a sale on November 11 at Sotheby’s. Bryant wore the sneakers in a March 17, 2004 victory against the LA Clippers, according to the auction house.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – NOVEMBER 02: The Nike Kobe Bryant Game Worn sneakers (estimate CHF 25,000 – 35,000) are on display for the Fashion Through Time online sale until November 11 at Sotheby’s Geneva on November 2, 2021 in Geneva, Switzerland . (Photo by
But as usual during the autumn auction season in Geneva, diamonds, emeralds, sapphires, rubies and other precious stones will be the highlights of next week’s sales at Sotheby’s and rival Christie’s.
Christie’s is rolling out a pair of heavy 18th-century bracelets on Tuesday that are studded with three rows of tiny diamonds. The bracelets are presented as one of the last vestiges of Marie-Antoinette’s rich jewelry cabinet still available for sale.
The auction house said the famous royal and wife of King Louis XVI was known to have herself carefully wrapped her jewelry in cotton, hoping to keep it out of revolutionary France – which made her ultimately claimed his life by the guillotine. The bracelets, ordered around 1776, have been kept in the royal line for more than 200 years, Christie’s said.
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“Despite Marie-Antoinette’s capture in the French Revolution and her unfortunate death in 1793, the bracelets survived and were passed on to her daughter, Madame Royale, and then to the Duchess of Parma,” said Max Fawcett, head of the department. Christie’s jewelry, referring respectively to Marie-Thérèse of France, daughter of the couple, and to Princess Louise d’Artois, who died in 1864.
“Seeing them at auction today is a unique opportunity for collectors around the world to own a piece of French royal history,†said Fawcett.
The presale estimate for the bracelets is 4 million Swiss francs ($ 4.38 million). They each weigh 97 grams (3.42 ounces) and include “old-fashioned” diamonds as well as silver and gold, Christie’s said.
Among the lots that Sotheby’s plans to present on Wednesday, there is a pair of “perfectly matched” earrings, each set with 25.8-carat diamonds, which is expected to fetch up to 5 million francs (5.5 million of dollars).
It will also feature a brooch with a 26.8-carat oval sapphire surrounded by diamonds and matching ear clips that belonged to Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna and were expelled from Russia during the 1917 revolution. The trio are expected to collect up to 480,000 francs ($ 525,800).
“She was the wife of Grand Duke Vladimir, the Tsar’s son, and she was really passionate about jewelry. She had a fantastic jewelry collection,†said Olivier Wagner, Sales Manager Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels.
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