THE most glittering sale of the year took place at Sotheby’s this week where jewels once owned by the Duchess of Windsor sold for sensational prices.
A diamond, onyx and platinum bracelet in the shape of a panther – made by Cartier, Paris in 1952 – sold after intense competition from four bidders for £4.5 million (€5.3m).
The buyer was rumoured to be Madonna.
The price established a new record for an item by Cartier and makes it the most expensive bracelet ever sold at auction.
The sale revived memories of the Abdication crisis which engulfed the British monarchy over 70 years ago. King Edward VIII’s affair with Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee, created a constitutional impasse and led to his surrendering the throne in 1936.
The couple went abroad, were married the following year and acquired the titles of Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Throughout their relationship he showered her with specially-commissioned jewels from Cartier.
Following the death of the Duchess in 1986, the collection was sold for charity. This week’s sale involved the re-sale of some 20 items.
Among other highlights was a ruby, sapphire, emerald, citrine and diamond flamingo clip, by Cartier, Paris, 1940 which sold for £1.7 million (€2m).
A spokesman for Sotheby’s said the jewels symbolised “perhaps the greatest love story of the 20th century” and had belonged to a woman “who was a leader of fashion and the epitome of elegance and sophistication for her generation and beyond”.