Christie's Auction of the late Duke and Duchess of Kent's Estate: November 2009


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jcbcode99

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Well, apparently the Kents have done it again--decided to have an auction, that is. Some jewels will be put on the block--the press release does not say which, though. Christie's is doing the sale.
 
Well, apparently the Kents have done it again--decided to have an auction, that is. Some jewels will be put on the block--the press release does not say which, though. Christie's is doing the sale.
I don't know why, but I'm a bit disturbed by this. I guess if you need the money.....I wonder if there will be any of the gifts she recieved from the Duchess of Windsor. Maybe she'll just sell some things she doesn't like. She is known for her incredible taste in jewels. Oh well...:ermm::ermm:Its not life threatening!!:cool:
 
Christie's Auction of the late Duke and Duchess of Kent Estate

The news of the auction was released over a week ago:

Kents to sell royal treasures | Mail Online

quotes (my bolding in 1st and 3rd paras):

The items, which will be sold by Christie's in November, were the property of the Prince's mother, Marina Duchess of Kent, who died in 1968. Prince Michael, his older brother, the Duke of Kent, and his sister Princess Alexandra have jointly decided to sell the remaining heirlooms they inherited from their late mother's estate.

Although Princess Marina disposed of much of her effects in 1947, a few years after her husband's wartime death, she left what remained to her three children.

...the sale will include valuable silverware, paintings, furniture, tapestries and various works of art. Lots are expected to raise between £250 and £100,000 each.

Details of the sale have still to be unveiled by Christie's, who three years ago also handled the Princess Margaret auction and the sale of the late Duke of Gloucester's effects.
 
I am just flabbergasted that they will be selling items such as the chair that the Duke sat upon during this brother's coronation, and sentimental family pieces. I think though, that I will defend Prince and Princess Michael--they've never put items up for auction. I'm willing to wager that it's the current duke, again, and he has pretty much just asked and asked and finally his siblings agreed rather than see him sell more important items.


http://www.christies.com/presscenter/pdf/09212009/113656.pdf
 
The Kents are not well-off and never have been. Prince George spent lavishly and Marina was not from a wealthy family (Greece) with little in the way of a dowry, although she certainly had some significant jewels from her mother, Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna. With George's early death, Marina experienced financial problems for years afterwards.

I'm sure the intent is to provide their children and grandchildren with something more substantial. None are active members of the royal family and have private careers anyway.
 
I don't know why, but I'm a bit disturbed by this. I guess if you need the money.....I wonder if there will be any of the gifts she recieved from the Duchess of Windsor. Maybe she'll just sell some things she doesn't like. She is known for her incredible taste in jewels. Oh well...:ermm::ermm:Its not life threatening!!:cool:

If Prince and Princess Michael of Kent need substantial money (and I suspect they do), she would be smart to put ALL of the jewels she received from The Duchess of Windsor in the auction. There's real money to be made on those pieces.
 
I'm sorry to hear that.It must be really painful-for any family-to "lose" such significant pieces.

It is sad to see significant pieces go, however to be practical these days there is not as much opportunity/occasion to wear such grand jewels, as there was 60 years ago, and therefore no need to own so many. There is also death duty/tax to be paid in the UK, which is a substantial tax, and as with the case of Princess Margaret's estate, some of the jewels that were very much part of her persona, ie the Poltimore tiara, and others that she inherited from Queen Mary, were sold off to pay this tax. :sad:
 
It looks fantastic. I hope, they won't sell this tiara. :ohmy: It's a pity that they have to sell some of their surely amazing heirlooms, but its known for years that the whole family seems to have financial problems. Difficult situation IMO.
 
Well,it seems there is hope after all.I don't know,maybe it's just me,but I do believe that tiaras should never be sold.
 
There's no panic! The jewellry part of the sale won't include anything that's currently worn by the Kent ladies. Apparently it consists of some pieces that belonged to Queen Victoria that have lay in storage ( I saw a picture of one item, a diamond brooch which spells out Victoria R in diamonds). Also I don't think this sale has arisen from any great financial need on the family's part. Apparently the items up for sale have been in storage for 41 years so basically they are selling off stuff that they own as a family but havn't used for a very long time. IMO it makes sense.

P.S. Did anyone spot Princess M's beautiful sapphire and diamond bracelet and ring at Freddie's wedding? The sapphire on the bracelet especially was huge. I think the ring was Princess Marina's engagement ring as I know Prince Michael inherited this and it fit's the descrition of that ring which is described in the book "The Queen's Jewels" as being a large 7 carat square Kashmir Sapphire flanked by banguette diamonds.
 
:previous:
Thanks angela for stepping in with the facts. Details of the items to be auctioned appear in posts #3 and #4.

Once again, to set the record straight: there is nothing to suggest that any serious royal jewels are included in this sale by the Kent family.


Warren
Royal Jewels moderator
 
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Christie's Auction of the late Duke and Duchess of Kent

Faberge find gives Kents ANOTHER pay day
(scroll down a bit)

The Duke of Kent, his brother Prince Michael and sister Princess Alexandra are again selling the family silver - or gold, to be more precise.
As I revealed, Christie's is auctioning family heirlooms next month. Now, rival saleroom Sotheby's is selling more than 100 precious bejewelled Faberge cigarette cases and cufflinks with a Kent connection.

They belonged to Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia, the Duke's maternal great-grandmother, who in 1918 deposited the hoard with the Swedish legation in St Petersburg so the treasures could not be seized by the Bolsheviks.
Still concealed in two pillow cases, they were smuggled out to Sweden's foreign ministry in Stockholm, where they have lain unclaimed until earlier this year.

Proceeds of the sale - which is expected to realise at least £1 million - will be shared between all the Grand Duchess's descendants.

The find of jewellery belonging to Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna had been discussed in this thread - Romanov Jewels, and also in this blog entry - Romanov jewels worth 2 million Euros found in Sweden.

The Kents aren't going to get all that much: Maria Vladimirovna (the only daughter of Maria Pavlovna's eldest son Grand Duke Vladimir) will get 1/4 of the money, while the other 3/4 will be divided between all other descendants of the Grand Duchess - and those include quite a few Royals from several Royal Houses. Moreover, all the descendants have agreed to dedicate an undisclosed share of the money raised from the auction to maintaining the Chapel in France where the Grand Duchess is buried.
 
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Christie's Auction of the late Duke and Duchess of Kent

List, pictures and estimates of all items to be auctioned

On their website (www.christes.com) you may see 336 lots , their description, sale information and their estimate (rather low I think)
The main jewelry are not sold.

I read this on Noblesse et Royautés to-day.
 
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I've copied and moved some of the posts from the Royal Jewels thread as well as the Prince and Princess Michael of Kent regarding the sale of some of the Kent jewels.

Pertinent information was posted from Marsel, Angela and Warren in regards to the sale that will be helpful to some TRF members who don't visit certain threads.

Hopefully this will lead to a good discussion regarding some of the pieces that we ALL can enjoy. I know that I for one, don't often visit the Royal Jewels forum very often and there might be others like me.

Happy Posting!

Zonk
British Forums Moderator
 
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Prince Michael of Kent’s christening set included in £1m heirloom auction


Informal family photographs of Queen Victoria and the last Tsar, a Coronation chair and Prince Michael of Kent’s silver christening set are among heirlooms being sold by three senior members of the Royal Family.

More information in this articles:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6898779.ece

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8337655.stm]BBC NEWS | UK | Royals to sell family heirlooms
 
I bet they make more than the estimated 1.25 million pounds. Wish things were photographed in the catalogue, thanks for posting the article link, it was informative.
 
It is so sad to see the Kents selling their family heirlooms off. At the same time, it is worth mentioning that that they are not the first or the last noble family to do so.
 
Amazing I will be soo interested in all of it the portrait is just divine.
 
I agree with Angela , I went also on Christie's website and saw the high quality of the items (especially the old pictures). The Kents will make a fortune (they have to share between them) but I don't think that Lord and Lady Frederick and others would have any use with this family items. On the other hand collectionners , museums or others will be delighted to have them..
To me the estimation is law..
 
It appears that there a lot of very nice items up for sale.
What a shame that the family has to part with them, but if they (the items) have been sitting away in storage since the late Duchess passed (in what 1968?), maybe its not a bad thing to sell them. Hopefully, they have taken the most sentimental items for themselves.

Does anyone know what the death duties are in England? It appears that several well off families have been known to sell off treasured antiques (including paintings) to pay this tax.
 
:previous:

Inheritance tax is rather heavy in Britain. To be brief, the rate is 0% for the first £325,000 of the estate (‘estate’ includes all assets), then 40% on the rest of the value.
So, if an individual has left £335,000, the first £325,000 is ‘free’, but 40% of the remaining £10,000 (£4,000) has to be paid. If an individual has left, say, £10 million, then the Government receives almost £4 million (40% of £9,975,000).
 
Thats ridiculous! Has there been any mention of reducing this tax in Britian?

Is this applicable in other countries...you really don't hear about other royals selling their possessions for the death tax.
 
:previous:

Well, from time to time some politician calls for reducing the tax but I doubt the Government will budge; they made over £3 billion pounds from the IHT just last year alone.
There will be a change soon - the 0% line will be raised from £325,000 to £350,000, but that's hardly a drastic one.

The IHT concerns only assets based in the United Kingdom, so foreigners, Royals or not, shouldn’t worry much about it.

And of course, there are ways of 'avoiding' the tax: a really shrewd lawyer will tell you all about those ways, but you've got to be able to afford one. :cool:
One of such ways is leaving the inheritance in trust funds. If you leave the assets in trust funds, with the beneficiary eventually gaining full access to the fund, it may prove to be disadvantageous in the long run (for the beneficiary). But if you leave the assets in DGT (Discounted Gift Trust – that’s when the beneficiary doesn't have access to main capital but gets either an allowance or percentage from the profits), then the tax can be avoided.
There are also exceptions, like money left to charities, donations, small bequests, etc., which are not subject to the Tax.

The Royal Family does pay the IHT, however there was an exception; in 1993, the Queen had a private agreement with then PM John Major, according to which the Queen Mother’s inheritance would not be subject to the Tax (the agreement was reached at the same time as the decision that the Queen’s personal income will be taxed as that of any other British subject). The Queen Mother also made full use of the Trust Funds option.
The only exceptions (for the RF) are bequests from Sovereign to Sovereign, which are exempt. This, of course, leaves a nice loophole; the Queen, for example, can leave everything to Charles but make private bequests for her other children (say, a parure here, a nice diamond necklace there...).
 
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Thanks for the information Marsel.

When I mentioned royals I was referring to other royal families per se (which is off topic I know!).

Its interesting that the tax is so high, but since it provides a reasonable source of revenue (unless you are paying it) I wouldn't imagine that it would be changed.

Now that I know the particulars it makes a lot of sense while some of the artistocratic families of Britain frequently sell their treasures. If you don't have the money just lying in the bank but rather hanging in the hall of your castle, what are you going to do?

And if no one in the Kent familiy is taking advantage of these treasures, and you have already paid tax on them, why not sell them.

I would love to be in the position to bid for some of the photographs!
 
We have just received catalogue of the items to be sold at Sotheby’s on November 17th and December 9th (the jewellery that had belonged to Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna).

The jewels are breathtaking! Among the most beautiful ones (from November auction) is a Sapphire parure, which included necklace, brooch, earrings, bracelets and 2 rings; the huge (and magnificent quality) sapphires are oval-shaped and surrounded by either 1 or 2 circles of diamonds (again, of highest quality). They are assumed to be Bolin work. The whole set is estimated at $200,000 however that’s the price of the actual stones/work alone; I bet it will fetch a lot higher because of historical importance.
Another significant ‘catch’ is a pair of cigarette cases with the portraits of Empress Alexandra and Nicholas II.

Among items to be sold in December, I’m mostly impressed by the Egyptian-theme jewellery. In particular, there are a couple of items which were in Natalya Paley’s collection. They don’t come cheap though – most are expected to fetch over $100,000.

I’ll try to post some pictures from the catalogue.
 
Or you could just provide us the link, Marsel :flowers: I can't wait for this auction. Although it's sad, it will be interesting to know the final prices ;)
 
I’m not sure the catalogue is available online, at least as of now: we have got the actual printed catalogue. I’ll check Sotheby’s website though. :)
The November sale is called “Magnificent Jewels”.

EDIT: the catalogue is unfortunately not available online, although you can learn some details here.
 
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I’m not sure the catalogue is available online, at least as of now: we have got the actual printed catalogue. I’ll check Sotheby’s website though. :)
The November sale is called “Magnificent Jewels”.

Thanks, dear :flowers: I'll google it. I didn't understand that you actually received the catalogue at home. Lucky you :)

I just viewed some of the masterpieces of the auction. What can I say? They are all divine: the ruby/diamond necklace, the Cartier brooch, the sapphire/diamond demi-parure and all these colorful diamonds! I can't imagine how the Kents may be feeling now that they're giving them away.
 
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