One of the most precious tiaras that has appeared on the market in recent years is Italian. The tiara of diamonds and natural pearls that belonged to the Savoy family will be the protagonist of the auction of Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels scheduled in Geneva on 11 May. With an estimated value of far more than one million dollars (in euros we are talking about almost 1.3 million) it was created in the nineteenth century by Musy Father and Sons, the oldest jeweler in Italy founded in Turin in 1707, already supplier of the royal house.
Going back to the origins of this splendid specimen, we know that it is one of the gifts received from Maria Vittoria dal Pozzo on the occasion of his wedding in 1867 with Amedeo I of Savoy, Duke of Aosta then King of Spain for only three years, from 1870 to 1873. Passed down in the family for over 150 years, we don’t know much about this tiara that disappeared from the scene with the passing of the ephemeral queen of Spain who died in Sanremo in 1876 at just 29 years old. The princess’s jewels passed to her three children – Emanuele Filiberto, Vittorio Emanuele and Luigi Amedeo – but there is no certain information about which of the three had inherited the tiara: what is known is that the re Umberto II bought the precious piece to prevent it from leaving the family collection.
For lovers of details, we can say that the diadem, composed of graduated spiral motifs set with diamonds that frame eleven natural pear-shaped pearls, can be worn also as a necklace. Also, icing on the cake, to present the jewel at auction, Sotheby’s has launched a instagram filter to allow followers of the pages @sothebys e @sothebysjewels to experience the thrill of virtually wearing the tiara against the 3D background of the Palazzina di Caccia di Stupinigi in Turin, once the residence of the House of Savoy.
“Tiaras have always been the flagship of the great jewelry collections but in the last decade their popularity has risen to unprecedented levels” he comments Benoit Repellin, responsible for the auction Magnificent Jewels “These historical pieces are appreciated all over the world, not only for their craftsmanship and the quality of the materials that make them real works of art but also for their historical and emotional importance: a mix of magnificence and intimacy”. That a real one had exploded for some time now tiara-mania it is not a mystery. In the last decade, auction houses have recorded dizzying sales: last year alone, 96% of the tiaras offered in Sotheby’s sales found a buyer and 83% of them reached prices above their maximum estimate ( very often more than double their estimates).
Accomplices the last royal marriages, especially those of the Windsor house, according to the data it seems therefore that the interest has aroused only among the curious. Together with the also quite loyal collectors of replicas, there are some who have a bank account that can afford an original one. To experience the effect of having one in your head, we now also have the app. At least that’s free.
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