A bracelet containing a huge sapphire that used to be part of the Imperial Russian crown jewels has sold for almost $5 million, smashing its pre-auction estimate.
The cushion-shaped 197.80-carat Romanov sapphire is set in a geometric diamond bracelet by jeweler Cartier, according to a listing from auction house Sotheby’s, which sold the piece in Geneva, Switzerland, on Wednesday.
The sale price of 4.1 million Swiss Francs ($4.9 million) means the bracelet smashed its pre-auction estimate of 850,000 to 1.7 million Swiss francs ($1.02 million to $2.04 million).
“This exceptional historical sapphire originated in the legendary collection of the Romanov family,” reads the auction listing. “The fabled collection of the Russian Tsars was arguably the most opulent and valuable Royal collection ever assembled.”
The Romanovs were the last Russian monarchy, and their rule ended in 1917 when Czar Nicholas II abdicated the throne at the beginning of the Russian Revolution. The following year, the family was executed by the Bolsheviks.
It is not known exactly when the Romanovs acquired the sapphire, but it can be seen alongside its pair on the front panel of a skirt worn by the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, Nicholas II’s mother, at a ball in 1883, according to the auction listing.
Following the Russian Revolution, the Romanov collection was sold off by the Soviets in the 1920s, after which this sapphire was acquired by a socialite named Ganna Walska in 1927, said Sotheby’s.
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At the time it was mounted on a necklace, and by the time it was sold as part of Walska’s estate in 1971 it had been moved onto a different, shorter necklace, according to the auction house.
In 2015, Cartier mounted the sapphire on the bracelet it is seen on today.
“The bracelet, with interchangeable rock crystal centre, highlights both the historical Romanov sapphire as well as Cartier’s unique artistic legacy anchored in the art deco period,” according to Sotheby’s.
Previous auctions of Romanov jewels have also fetched far more than their estimate.
In 2021, a sapphire and diamond brooch and matching earrings sold for 806,500 Swiss francs (about $883,600) at Sotheby’s, almost twice the high-end of the pre-sale estimate.
