France: Imperial, Royal and Noble Jewellery


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The way the pearls in that tiara are arranged is a bit reminiscent of Mickey Mouse, though. I've seen diamond and pearl tiaras that I like quite a bit better than that one.
 
I could not stop stuttering.....now those are JEWELS!!!!

Wow.....by far some of the most impressive, and they shout regal and royal..
 
is there anyone that uses these jewllery today? or are they only on display
 
Well, good people, all I can say is that those French Jewelers really knew how to create incredible magnificent works of art. Masterpieces indeed. and the Bonapartes. bless their power hungry and power mad heads had to money and the power to buy it. Thanks so much to the members who have shared these marvelous delights.
 
This is the most beautiful jewelry I've seen so far. I just love her wedding parure, it's beautiful! Does anyone know if these jewels still in the family or have the been sold?
 
Darky said:
You're welcome Mandy :)

The Diamond Necklace Affair.

The Cardinal de Rohan wished to improve his social status at Versailles, and a woman calling herself the Comtesse de La Motte offered to help him. Unfortunately for the cardinal, Jeanne de La Motte was not really a comtesse. She was a con artist. She hired a woman to dress like Marie Antoinette and meet the cardinal in the gardens of Versailles at night. The false queen gave the cardinal a rose and hurried away, leaving the cardinal under the illusion that he had met Marie Antoinette.
Next Mme La Motte told the cardinal that the queen wanted him to purchase a very expensive diamond necklace on her behalf. Obediently the cardinal obtained the necklace and gave it to Mme La Motte, expecting the queen to pay for it. Of course, Marie Antoinette never saw the necklace; Mme La Motte gave the diamonds to her husband, who took them to London and sold them. When the jewelers demanded payment, the Diamond Necklace Affair became public. The cardinal and Mme La Motte were arrested. The cardinal was tried and acquitted. Mme La Motte was imprisoned, publicly flogged, and branded. Eventually she escaped to London, where she spread malicious rumors about Marie Antoinette.

Although Marie Antoinette was innocent in the whole affair, it was widely believed that she had accepted the necklace and refused to pay for it. There were even rumors that she had had an affair with Mme La Motte! The Diamond Necklace Affair contributed greatly to Marie Antoinette's downfall.

Here a copy of the necklace diamonds! The original diamonds necklace were sold one by one in England by an accomplice of the contess de la Motte ![/quote/

I'm quoting here from Antonia Fraser's biography of Marie Antoinette "It cannot be known for certain what happened to the stones. Some of them may have been acquired by the Duke of Dorset and remained in his family, according to tradition, in the form of a tasseled diadem. It used to be claimed that 22 of the most fabulous brilliants were made into a simple chain worn by the Duchess of Sutherland; this chain was exhibited in ther Versailles exhibition of 1955". Does anyone have photos of these 2 pieces?
 
semisquare said:
LONDON, England (Reuters) -- British police are trying to track down jewelry once owned by the 18th century French Queen Marie Antoinette, which burglars snatched from a west London house...
Wow! How lucky did those two kids get?! It would take a lot of work if it had been premeditated!
 
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Many of the jewels have been sold in 1887 by the III Republic government, in order to avoid an imperila or royal feeling. The historical pieces were kept and exposed in the Louvre. What empress kept was given when she died. She offered emeralds to Queen Victoria Eugenia of Spain. They were sold in the 60' and bought by the Shah of Iran. Empress Farah wore them as a necklace for the Persepolis festival. The empress Eugenie emralds are still in Téhéran.....The pearl and diamond tiara enterd in the Turn und Taxis collections and was sold by Princesse Gloria in 1992. It was bought by the Louvre. The Regent pearl was bought in the 90' by a kowetian banker. The Niarchos familly owned the duchesse of Angoulème Ruby tiara. Some of the imperial jewels are owned by the Duchesse of Alba...many others pieces have been simply destroyed by the diffent owners. I don't think the present Bonaparte family still owned jewels from Empresse Eugenie. Al that stil exists is in private collections.
 
Haha Elspeth, I never noticed the "Mickey Mouse" motif before. Quite true.
 
What a pity that nothing has been shown about the Orléans family and its historical jewels....Here are a few pics of the former Comtesse de Paris ' collection.

The comtesse was a smart and glamourous lady, born in the brazilian imperial family. She married to the Earl of Paris, french pretendant to the throne. The saphire jewels was bought by King Louis Philippe to his wife, where as the small tiara and the Art déco bandeau was comtesse's wedding presents


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Last, but I hope not least (!!!!),

Pics 1: Comtesse de Paris with empresse Josephine pearl tiara. (in the Chaumet's collection)

Pics 2: Official portrait of the Comtesse

Pics 3; The french Royal family in 1960 on the occasion of th wedding of Princess Diane (daughter of earl of Paris) to Duke Carl of Wurtemberg

Pics 4: the Duchess of Guise, Earl of Paris' mother, wearing the amazing saphires jewels. Those have been said to belonged to Queen Marie Antoinette, then to empresse Josephine. They were sold in the 80' by Earl of Paris and are now in the Louvre Museum
 

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Unfortunately, the Comte ended up selling off most of the family jewels before he died.
 
Here a page that shows some jewelry belonging to the late countess of Paris. I have no idea of the present whereabouts but one hopes they were inherited by her daughters.
 
Marie Antoinette's pearls up for auction

Marie Antoinette's pearls up for auction



The article has a nice close up of the pearl, diamond and ruby necklace to be auctioned.
 
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I hope France gets it because that is where they belong.
It would be terrible if it disappeared to a vault in Russia or some oil rich nation
 
I agree--the piece should be in France. How exciting to see something like this come up on auction!

As an aside, Kelly Klein is putting up for auction the Duchess of Windsor's pearls that she and hubby Calvin bought at that historic auction so many years ago--here's a link:
http://files.shareholder.com/downlo...bd3441-37f9-42c1-b87a-f197bd923a95/132939.pdf

One of those strands belonged to Queen Mary. I'd like to see the BRF get it back.
 
I think it's good that the necklace might be returned to France, it would be very symbolic. But at the same time, I don't want the necklace to be put in the Louvre to be viewed only, never to be worn again.
I'll wear it! LOL
 
What a pity the Klein's pearls are not being auctioned as a set. This way they would not be in danger of being split up as they are now.
 
So, technically, these jewels were either loose or in other settings when owned by Marie Antoinette?
 
They could end up anywhere...I'm surprised the starting price isn't more...
 
Yahoo news

A necklace having belonged to Queen Marie Antoinette of France is to be auctioned in London next month.
 
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Wow... Fancy owning a necklace, that once belonged to Marie Antoinette!
 
I am not sure if the necklace in this setting belonged to Marie-Antoinette, weren't it just the pearls that were hers? She gave them to a British lady who later made a necklace out of it, or something like that?
 
The joys of google ;):

The French queen gave the pearls for safekeeping to Lady Sutherland, the wife of British ambassador George Leveson-Gower, before the embassy pulled out of France in August 1792, Christie's said. When Marie Antoinette lost her head, the family retained the pearls for more than 200 years, Christie's said.
The necklace, made for an 1849 wedding of the Sutherland-Leveson-Gower family, has a fringe of 21 gray drop-shaped pearls suspended from a diamond collar, which is set with 12 button-shaped, gold-mounted pearls, the auction house said.

Read the entire article here (and with another picture of the fabulous necklace)
 
The pearls of Queen Marie Anoinette are expected to fecth less than the watch of Josephine de Beauharnais...?

Something is seriously wrong there...lol.
 
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