Sale of Marie Antoinette ring

[LadyGabrielle]

So apparently someone bought the engagement ring that belonged to Marie Antoinette. Anyone know who bought it and would'nt the ring belong to a royal family somewhere down the line? I cannot remember but I thought there is a ruling family that the jewelry would pass down to. Anyone?

 

[Ish]

So apparently someone bought the engagement ring that belonged to Marie Antoinette. Anyone know who bought it and would'nt the ring belong to a royal family somewhere down the line? I cannot remember but I thought there is a ruling family that the jewelry would pass down to. Anyone?

This intrigued me, so I did a google search and found this:

When Marie Antoinette arrived in France she brought this stone with her, a greyish blue heart shaped diamond of 5.46 metric carats. As private property it never went with the Crown Jewels and was not not [sic] therefore stolen in 1792. Just before her execution the Queen presented the stone to a close confidant who was Polish and the stone went to Poland where, other than occasional appearances it lived until being sold in 1967 to a private European buyer.

http://www.runyansjewelers.com/index.php?main_page=jewelrydiamonds

 

[LadyGabrielle]

Well dont I feel silly. I meant to say the ring belonged to Josephine. Anyway, thank you for the answer.

 

[Ish]

Okay, that makes more sense (I was wondering why there were no news articles on it).

Josephine's ring sold for €730,000, or $948,000 at the Osenat auction house in Fontaineblue. It was from the Collection of Prince Victor Napoleon and his wife, the Princess Clementine of Belgium. The name of the buyer has not been released.

Prince Victor Napoleon (or, as per Wiki, Victor, Prince Napoleon) was the Head of the House of Bonaparte from 1879 until his death in 1926. His grandfather, Jerome-Napoleon Bonaparte, King of Westphalia, was Napoleon's youngest brother. The current Head of the House is either Victor's grandson, Charles, or great-grandson, Jean Christophe, as there's somewhat of a debate on the matter. Presumably, it was one of them who decide to sell the collection.

 

[Ish]

Or not necessarily...


When Victor died part of the collection went to his daughter, Marie-Clotilde, and part went to his son, Louis Napoleon. Part of (I believe) the collection inherited by Marie-Clotilde was given to the French government, and part went to her son, Baudoin de Witt, Comte de Witt. I would presume that Louis Napoleon's part of the collection went to either his son, Charles, or grandson, Jean-Christophe. I can't find who owned the ring most recently, so any one of these 4 could have sold the ring (although I suspect it's most likely to have been a Napoleon and least likely to have been the government).

 

[LadyGabrielle]

Ish you are the best! Thank you so much for the information. I was surprised I suppose that such a historical piece of history would be sold. I would think that any family member who ended up with it would consider it a treasure and would never want to part with it. It may not have been a massive ring but it had alot of sentiment attached. I think someone said it was known as " moi et toi ". Now I wonder who bought it.

 

[Ish]

Ish you are the best! Thank you so much for the information. I was surprised I suppose that such a historical piece of history would be sold. I would think that any family member who ended up with it would consider it a treasure and would never want to part with it. It may not have been a massive ring but it had alot of sentiment attached. I think someone said it was known as " moi et toi ". Now I wonder who bought it.

I can see the sentiment if it was owned by someone who was descended from the union of Josephine and Napoleon, but it's not - they never had kids and ended up divorcing. Napoleon's one child was born through his second marriage, and the current House of Bonaparte is descended from Napoleon's brother.

It seems like the people who are more attached to the history of it all was Victor Napoleon, and perhaps his daughter and her son - the former made the effort to get the collection, and the latter two have both taken efforts to see that the collection gets displayed.

I don't know much about the two current Napoleons, but one is a Republican who has appeared to have been at least semi-disowned by his family (hence the dispute in the claim). It could be that the part of the collection that the ring belonged to him and he sold it because it held no sentimental value to him.

The interesting part in all this for me (at this point) is just who sold it, and what whoever bought it is planning on doing with it.

 

[NGalitzine]

Well none of the possible owners are descendents of Josephine or even of Napoleon I himself, and Josephine's marriage to Napoleon didn't end all that well, so I suspect there is less of a family attachment to the ring. If someone needed cash it seems like a good object to sell.

 

[LadyGabrielle]

True, I suppose if whoever owned it feels no sentimental attachment to the ring, it would make no difference if it is sold. I guess if you are in need of cash for whatever reason then it was a good choice to sell it, especially since it sold for an unbelievable amount. It is really too bad though, it is still a historical piece that has quite a story behind it. I am still curious to know who bought it and why. There has to be some fantastic story as to why this person paid so much for the little ring that no one thought would sell for much. Very interesting.

 

[bertie5252003]

Gosh ... amazing wonder who purchased it I am really obsessed with that part history ... reading anything about it I can at present ....