The bracelet featuring a nearly 198-carat Romanov sapphire from Russia’s imperial family, at Sotheby’s auction in Geneva, Switzerland. (Photo: Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP)
\n\nThere are heirlooms, and then there is jewellery that carries centuries of history with it. A sapphire, rock crystal and diamond bracelet by Cartier has just broken records at auction, selling for CHF 4,122,000, or approximately USD 4.93 million. Few pieces can claim a lineage quite like this one.
\n\nAccording to Sotheby’s, the bracelet comes from the prized collection of the Romanov family and was once part of the Russian Crown Jewels. The auction house notes: “The fabled collection of the Russian Tsars was arguably the most opulent and valuable Royal collection ever assembled, second only to the legendary treasures of the Mughal Emperors. The catalogue of the Russian Crown Jewels drawn up after the Revolution in 1924-1926 shows how this sapphire, then set in a contemporary diamond border by Fabergé, formed a pair of brooches or clasps together with a second sapphire whose weight was recorded as 249.25 carats.”
\n\nThe gem has a famous past. Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, the mother of Nicholas II, wore it at the 1903 Winter Palace Ball in St Petersburg. Sotheby’s…
Original source: https://www.timesnownews.com/lifestyle
