What makes this Cartier bracelet worth $4.9 million?
A sapphire from Russia’s crown jewels fetched about $4.955 million in Geneva, Qazinform News Agency reports.
Sotheby’s sold the Cartier bracelet for 4,122,000 Swiss francs on November 11. The price topped the auction house’s high estimate of 1.7 million francs.
The 197.80-carat sapphire came from Sri Lanka. At an 1883 costume ball, Russian Empress Maria Feodorovna wore it on her skirt. A second sapphire weighing 249.25 carats sat alongside it.
After the Russian Revolution, Soviet authorities sold the stone. In 1927, singer Ganna Walska bought it from Cartier as a pendant. Two years later, she paired it with a 256.60-carat carved emerald in another necklace.
Cartier set the sapphire in its current platinum and diamond bracelet in 2015. The design lets the wearer swap the sapphire for engraved rock crystal.
Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that the sapphire’s cut suggests it dates to the Mughal era. Exactly when it entered the Romanov collection remains unknown.
