Hello Beth ! I am the one who wrote a few years ago that this emerald parure is now very close to where it should be. Let me explain. In the personal papers of the 1st countess de Paris ( 1848-1819) which are kept in the Archives de la Maison de France in Paris there is a very detailed list of the jewels the comtesse de Paris left to her two sons and 4 daughters. By far, Queen Amelie of Portugal and the older son, the duc d’Orleans received the lion share of their mother’s collection. I guess because the first one was a queen and the second one was the heir of the family. The duc d’orleans inherited his mother’s sapphires ( two tiaras and numerous other pieces) and queen Amelie received the emeralds as a wedding present. The emerald set had nothing to do with Queen Marie Amelie of the french. Queen Marie Amelie s parure was inherited by her daughter clémentine and it remained with her saxe cobourg descendants untill 1950. It was then sold to « someone ». I published a photo of the tiara from that set in my book about Van Cleef. The tiara was remounted in the exact same design as a necklace. The Comtesse de Paris emerald set came from her mother the duchess of Montpensier who had received it from the estate of her father king Ferdinand of Spain. That parure originated with the Spanish royal family. When queen Amelie died in 1951, most of that parure was inherited by her nephew the Comte de Paris. At the time the Comte de Paris was arriving in France. Before that he had been exiled during 25 years. He did not have a lot of money especially as most of the estate of his father, the duc de Guise, had been inherited by his mother the duchesse de Guise. Therefore he sold the parure to »someone » and used the money to buy his famous manoir du Cœur Volant in Louveciennes where he would live with his family untill 1970. He explained the story to me in 1992. Queen Amelie had quite a number of godchildren. One of them, princess Esperanza de bourbon Orleans Bragance was left a brooch Queen Amelie had been given as a wedding present by her great uncle the duc d’Aimale but without the pendants, a pendant with 2 cabochons emeralds and a bracelet with other cabochons. The emeralds were sent from France to Brazil in a tin box to avoid taxes. The princess told me the story herself.
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