Always nice to see a seemingly little known collection obtaining some attention - I am particularly fascinated by the Beauharnais jewels, given their age. It is extremely rare to have whole parures of jewels dating back that far - from memory only the Danes and Swedes can say that.

I wonder if they are being auctioned to maximise their value based on the 200th anniversary of Napoleon's death this year.

I do hope they are sold as a parure and not broken down. It would be fantastic if they were bought by a French or German museum or even that fantastic tiara museum in Japan.

One of the Prince of Hohenzollern's daughters is engaged to be married and her mother wore the tiara on her wedding day, so I am a bit surprised that such an important tiara would be sold just beforehand, this depriving her of wearing it as her mother had.