[1]THE JEWELS of the Duchess of Windsor, wife of Edward VIII who abdicated the throne of Great Britain in order to marry her, were on Tuesday auctioned for a record £8 million. Twenty jewellery pieces, including those the couple commissioned from Cartier, were estimated by Sotheby’s to sell for £3 million. However, they were auctioned for £7,975,550.
The highlight of the Sotheby’s auction was Cartier onyx and diamond panther bracelet sold for a staggering £4,521,250. The bracelet had been estimated to sell between £1-1.5 million. The onyx and diamond panther bracelet, designed in 1952, has been described as the best among three-dimensional “great cats” jewels.
However, the flamingo clip, also estimated to sell for £1-1.5 million, only managed to sell for £1,721,250. The flamingo brooch, made of rubies, sapphires, emeralds, citrines and diamonds, was bought by the Simpson in 1940. Simpson’s favourite diamond bracelet, which consists of nine gem-set Latin crosses, each representing special moments of her life during the years 1934-44, made £601,250 at the auction. It was estimated to sell for £350,000-450,000.
One of the crosses in the bracelet was inscribed for the marriage (“Our Marriage Cross Wallis 3-V-37 David”) and another was a reminder of an assassination attempt against the King (“God save the King for Wallis 16.VII.36”).
Many pieces bear inscriptions of an intimate nature and among these are a heart-shaped emerald, ruby and diamond brooch with the initials W.E. (Wallis, Edward) commissioned in 1957 to mark their 20th wedding anniversary.
The brooch sold for £205,250. The jewellery pieces document the most famous love story of the 20th century between American divorcee Wallis Warfield Simpson and King Edward VIII, who became the Duke of Windsor on abdication in 1937.
The collection included jewellery bought by Edward VIII throughout his courtship of Simpson as the Prince of Wales, during his brief period on the British throne and during their married life.
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