A magnificent tiara of natural pearls and diamonds, which has been in the same Italian royal family for more than 150 years, is expected to fetch as much as £1 million at an upcoming Sotheby’s auction. Vogue explores some of the most spectacular tiaras sold at auction over the past decade—and why, for a certain crowd, they’ll always be a desirable piece
Who wears a tiara today? You might think only members of the royal family on their wedding days. But those royal moments are among the reasons that a new audience of mere mortals has adopted the tiara as their headgear of choice. A few years ago I was at a gala dinner to celebrate the unveiling of a high jewellery collection, where one client had made her diamond tiara the crowning glory of her entire ensemble, alongside her couture gown, lapdog and ever-present personal assistant.
She is not the only one. “Tiaras appeal to jewellery collectors, but there is an increasing demand from people who actually want to wear them,” says Benoit Repellin, head of Sotheby’s Geneva’s Magnificent Jewels sales. A magnificent tiara of natural pearls and diamonds, which has been in the same Italian royal family for more than 150 years, leads the next Sotheby’s sale on 11 May. Repellin says the piece, which is expected to fetch between £726,000 and £1.1 million, is one of the most important tiaras to come to market in a decade that has seen unprecedented demand for head ornaments.
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“A tiara is the ultimate status jewel,” says Repellin. They have been worn for centuries as a symbol of status and power. The ancient Romans wore wreaths of gold to denote their social standing, and it was a fashion revived by Napoleon Bonaparte in his bid to emphasise his imperial status at the end of the 18th century. Napoleon’s wife Joséphine ordered her tiara from Chaumet, and the Parisian jewellery house has been synonymous with head ornaments ever since, with more than 3,000 models of past creations in its archives.
“The tiara is quite literally the crowning glory, it guarantees you will be the centre of attention no matter where you are in the room,” says Jean-Marc Mansvelt, Chaumet’s chief executive. He says clients, particularly in Asia and the Middle East, buy them for weddings and special occasions – even to wear to board meetings as a demonstration of their power. “We had a client a few years ago who bought two tiaras, so his daughter could choose one to wear at her wedding,” says Repellin. Just as aristocratic families in the past demonstrated their importance with the display of an exquisite tiara crafted from the finest gemstones, it now becomes an heirloom for wealthy families to pass down through their own generations.
While few of us will get beyond a wedding day headpiece—or at best a Simone Rocha pearly headband—we can at least fantasise about royal status with an Instagram filter Sotheby’s has launched to celebrate the auction. Available on Sotheby’s main Instagram handle @Sothebys, and its dedicated jewellery account @SothebysJewels from today, the filter enables followers to virtually “try on” the tiara against the 3D background of an Italian Palazzo, and capture a picture of themselves wearing the head piece.
We will have to wait until May to see whether this tiara will break any records, but in the meantime, keep reading to see the best-selling tiaras at auction from the last decade. From the collections of ancient royal families to one sported by Elizabeth Taylor at the Oscars, they demonstrate that the tiara’s appeal is as strong today as it ever was.
The Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels auction will take place in Geneva on May 11.
This article originally appeared on Vogue.co.uk.
1/10Henckel von Donnersmarck tiara
Considered one of the grandest tiaras to exist outside of a royal or museum collection, this c. 1900 emerald and diamond tiara was formerly in the collection of Princess Katharina Henckel von Donnersmarck, member of a German noble family. Its enormous emeralds, which total more than 500 carats, are believed to have come from the collection of Empress Eugénie of France. Although unsigned, the jewel is believed to have been made by Chaumet. At Sotheby’s Geneva in May 2011, it became the most expensive tiara ever sold at auction, fetching £7.8 million.
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Mike Todd Diamond Tiara
Elizabeth Taylor received this c. 1880 diamond tiara from Mike Todd, her third husband, in 1957. She wore it to that year’s Academy Awards, where movie producer Todd won an Oscar for Around The World in 80 Days, and to the Cannes Film Festival (where the couple are pictured here). They were married only a year before Todd tragically died in a plane crash. Taylor later wrote: “When Mike gave me this tiara, he said, ‘You’re my queen, and I think you should have a tiara.’” It sold for £2.7 million as part of the record-breaking sale of Taylor’s jewellery collection at Christie’s New York in May 2011.
MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP/GettyImages3/10Murat tiara, Chaumet
This natural pearl and diamond jewel was created in 1920 by Joseph Chaumet for the marriage of Prince Alexandre Murat, a descendant of Napoleon’s sister, Caroline Bonaparte, and Joachim Murat, Marshal of the Empire, to Yvonne Gillois. It sold at Sotheby’s Geneva in May 2012 for £2.4 million.
4/10Duchess of Roxburghe tiara, Cartier
This Art Deco Cartier diamond tiara was a wedding gift from the Duke of Roxburghe to his bride, Lady Mary Evelyn Hungerford Crewe-Milne, in 1935. Just two years later, the Duchess was attendant to Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother), at the coronation of George VI. The Roxburghes’ marriage was an unhappy one, and the couple divorced in 1953. The tiara was sold after her death in 2014 for £1.7 million at Sotheby’s Geneva in May 2015.
5/10Pearl and Diamond tiara, Garrard
This c. 1878 tiara by Garrard sold for £1.2 million at Christie’s London in June 2011. Typical of a tiara, the piece can be worn in different ways. The seven drop-shaped natural pearls can be detached, and the six bouton-shaped pearls can be separated and worn as brooches.
6/10Grand Duchess Alexandra of Mecklenburg-Schwerin tiara, Fabergé
This rare Belle Époque aquamarine and diamond tiara by Fabergé sold for £819,000 at Christie’s Geneva in May 2019. It was a wedding gift from Frederick Francis IV, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, to his bride Princess Alexandra of Hanover and Cumberland (1882-1963). His mother, Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia, a keen Fabergé collector, encouraged the Grand Duke to marry young, and the wedding was scheduled for June 1904 when Frederick was 22 years old and Alexandra, 21.
7/10Diamond tiara from the Bourbon Parma Royal Collection, Hübner
This 1912 fleur-de-lis style tiara was created by Austrian jeweller Hübner for Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria, the wife of Prince Elias, Duke of Parma. It is set with diamonds that once belonged to Elias’s great-great-grandfather, Charles X, King of France (1824-1830). The tiara sold for £746,300 at Sotheby’s Geneva in November 2018.
8/10Duchess of Roxburghe tiara
This unsigned, late 19th century diamond tiara sold for £545,000 at the same Sotheby’s sale as the Duchess’s Cartier tiara in May 2015. It is a convertible piece that can also be worn as a necklace.
