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Interesting, that the article doesn't say why they were up for sale, or why now. And why in Geneva.
The royal family that owned them happens to be the family King Michael of Romania's wife is from. Michael died just last fall. His wife, Anne, passed away in 2016. These must have been her jewels, put up for auction by Michael's heirs. Michael and his wife had their main residence on Lake Geneva, where the auction was held.
This is sad. :'( I'm a huge fan of King Michael's.
Here's a Wiki profile of Anne Antoinette of Bourbon-Palma, former owner of the auctioned jewelry.
Interesting, that the article doesn't say why they were up for sale, or why now. The royal family that owned them happens to be the family of King Michael of Romania's wife. Michael died just last fall. His wife, Anne, passed away in 2016. I wonder if these were her jewels, maybe put up for auction by Michael's heirs. Michael and his wife lived on Lake Geneva, where the auction was held.
Few families/persons in the world have the kind of resources to plonk down 32 million Euros for a brooch. So unless it was a government we're talking Middle Eastern royalty, Russian oligarch, perhaps hedge fund banker. Then there is always any of the tech billionaires like Mr. Bill Gates who have more money than God, and make more of it each month.
At same auction were also jewels from collections of Happy Rockefeller and Barbara Sinatra. Maybe families/estates are selling surplus to requirement jewels to fatten (or shore up) their finances.
Royalty and quite frankly high society isn't what it once was; and few ladies outside of Queen Elizabeth, The Princess of Wales (ok, Camilla, *LOL*) and some other members of Windsor family deck themselves out like Christmas trees with any sort of regularity.
Most young women today be they socialites or royalty tend to go for more discreet pieces.
Evalyn Walsh-McLean frequently wore the Hope diamond to parties and events.
But I guess the notion of, say, Melinda Gates wearing a $30M brooch to a fundraiser inspires Batman-like robbery attempts.
I doubt anyone purchased the jewels so they can be worn but there's always the possibility. Most likely some kind of rich collector who will keep them hidden away for another 50 years.
Thanks for this bit of history. One of my guilty pleasures any time I'm in a place where I can buy French- language magazines, is buying an issue of Point de Vue, which covers all the doings of royalty, including the descendants of deposed European royalty. I've always been fascinated by the Hapsburgs (of which Marie Antoinette was one). I'm glad (most of the time) that America is a democracy but still love that magazine.
I could ALMOST have been tempted to buy one of the smaller pieces at their initial estimated price, but when you get past $1 million we're talking real money.
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