Anyone with $2 million handy can buy a necklace from Bulgari or Graff, but not everyone can own a piece of jewelry with a backstory. A lucky few inherit important items from their family; for everyone else (and by "everyone else" we actually mean ".00001 percent of the world's population") acquiring a piece of history most often requires a trip to the spring jewelry auctions.
Like clockwork,Sotheby's and Christie's this April and May will offer up a range of rings, earrings, tiaras, and brooches from some of the most illustrious aristocratic families in the world. Occasionally the lot descriptions will just be a tease—a $700,000 diamond necklace at Sotheby's is murkily listed as "Property of a European Imperial Royal Family," for instance—but there are other objects where the consignors are less discreet, and you'll know exactly which Bourbon king bought what (and when) for his wife/third cousin. The following are highlights, including a few American-owned items thrown in for good measure; if Jackie O doesn't count as royalty, then no one should.
Dollar figures are auction house estimates.
(bloomberg.com)
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