Echoes of Empire: Historic Jewels at Sotheby’s Royal & Noble Sale

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On 12 November, Sotheby’s Geneva will once again open the doors to history with its Royal & Noble Jewels Sale. A highlight of the international autumn calendar, the auction brings together treasures whose brilliance lies not only in their gemstones but in the stories they carry — of power, downfall, legacy, and grace.

This year’s edition features three exceptional jewels that once belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte, Kunigunde of Saxony, and Princess Neslishah Sultan, each bearing witness to turning points in European history.

Napoleon’s Diamond Brooch: The Emperor’s Lost Jewel

Among the sale’s most compelling lots stands a circular diamond brooch, approximately 45 millimetres in diameter, once owned by Napoleon Bonaparte and seized on the day of the Battle of Waterloo. Estimated at 120,000–200,000 CHF (approximately $150,000–250,000), the jewel centres on a 13.04-carat oval diamond, encircled by nearly one hundred old mine-cut stones arranged concentrically in two rows.

Created around 1810, the brooch — or hat ornament — was likely designed to adorn Napoleon’s bicorne on special occasions. In his hasty retreat after Waterloo, the Emperor abandoned his carriages, one of which carried his personal effects: medals, silverware, weapons, and a box filled with loose diamonds and jewels. These spoils were recovered by the Prussian army and presented as trophies to King Friedrich Wilhelm III.

The piece remained in the House of Hohenzollern for generations, a silent emblem of the reversal of fortune that reshaped Europe. Offered publicly for the first time, the brooch marks a rare occasion in which a jewel directly tied to Napoleon’s personal regalia re-emerges on the market. Its reappearance in Geneva not only bridges collectors to one of history’s most storied figures but also revives a tangible link to the Emperor’s fateful final campaign.

Kunigunde of Saxony’s Pearls: The Romantic Sévigné

No less captivating is a natural pearl and diamond hair ornament, accompanied by a brooch, offered together with an estimate of 340,000–500,000 CHF. Both jewels once belonged to Kunigunde of Saxony, Marchesa di Montoro (1774–1820) — cousin to Louis XVI, the King of Spain, and the King of Naples — who married in 1796 wearing a tiara composed of magnificent pearls inherited from her father, Prince Franz Xaver of Saxony and Poland.

Around 1840, the tiara was dismantled, and its pearls were remounted as a Sévigné-style hair ornament, a fleeting fashion of the Romantic era that framed the face with garlands of gems from ear to ear. Attributed to Fossin, the predecessor of Chaumet, this Sévigné may be the last surviving example of its kind — a testament to both technical ingenuity and delicate design.

The garland’s natural pearls — some measuring up to nearly 18 millimetres in length — and old-mine diamonds were mounted in a vine-like design of remarkable flexibility, allowing each section to detach for use as hairpins, brooches or necklace elements. Such transformability exemplified the 19th-century shift toward jewels that could adapt to changing fashions while preserving their aristocratic heritage.

Its versatility also ensured its survival: when the style faded, the jewel was ingeniously adapted for wear as a necklace, devant-de-corsage, or a set of hair pins. The accompanying brooch, set with pearls of the same provenance, reflects the 1860s’ taste for ribbon motifs inspired by 18th-century elegance.

Together, these pieces trace two centuries of European refinement, where tradition, reinvention, and artistry converge in harmony.

Princess Neslishah Sultan’s Pink Diamond Ring: A Legacy of Resilience

From the splendour of European courts to the last echoes of an empire, the sale also presents a light pink diamond ring once belonging to Princess Neslishah Sultan (1921–2012), the last Ottoman princess born into the imperial register. Estimated at 240,000–400,000 CHF, the jewel holds a 13-carat old mine brilliant-cut pink diamond with a lineage as remarkable as its hue.

Gifted to the Princess before her 1940 wedding in Cairo, the diamond’s origins reach back to Empress Catherine I of Russia, who had presented it to Sultan Ahmed III in 1711 during the Treaty of the Pruth negotiations. It remained in the Ottoman treasury for generations until Sultan Abdul Hamid II gifted it to his cousin Princess Emina Ilhamy, from whom it passed down to the bride.

Princess Neslishah’s life, marked by exile, upheaval, and grace under pressure, mirrors the history of her ring: a treasure passed through centuries of shifting powers yet never losing its light.

The jewel forms part of a remarkable group of twenty pieces from the princess’s personal collection, spanning jewels worn in both Istanbul and Cairo. Together they trace the twilight of the Ottoman dynasty and the cosmopolitan glamour of Egypt’s mid-20th-century court — a world where royal ceremony met modern elegance.

Jewels as Silent Witnesses

As Andres White Correal, Chairman of Jewellery Europe and the Middle East, Head of Noble Jewels at Sotheby’s, remarks, the Royal & Noble sale continues to set the benchmark for jewels of illustrious provenance. The convergence, in one auction, of pieces linked to Napoleon I, Empress Catherine I, and the House of Saxony reveals the enduring dialogue between jewellery and history — between the splendour of the past and the curiosity of the present.

It is a huge privilege to be able bring to auction such wonderous pieces of jewellery boasting prestigious provenance year after year in Geneva. Our Royal and Noble sale continues to be unparalleled in the auction world and continues to set the standard. The presentation, in the same sale, of items of jewellery previously owned by Emperor Napoleon I and Empress Catherine I via one of the greatest Ottoman Princesses, to name only two stunning examples, demonstrates our on-going quest to offer discerning collectors the absolute best.

Andres White Correal, Chairman Jewellery Europe and Middle East, Head of Noble Jewels