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Lost gems - The Swedish Leuchtenberg pearl necklace
Posted by Janet on December 26, 2020, 5:34 am
I was looking at Symbolic & Chase’s website and saw the remarkable Leuchtenberg pearl necklace that once belonged to the Swedish royal house is being marketed for sale.
A model wears the necklace in several pictures and you can really appreciate the scale and impact of this extraordinary and impressive necklace, which I had not really appreciated from the catalogue pictures. The main pearl drop is huge.
It is speculated that the necklace was a gift by the Empress Josephine to her daughter-in-law and was eventually inherited by her granddaughter, Josephine, future Queen of Sweden and an ancestor of the Kings of Sweden, Belgium, Norway, Queens of Denmark and Greece and the Grand Duke of Luxembourg.
The necklace was consigned to auction at Christies by a relative of the King of Sweden in 1995 (I am not quite sure who sold it and for how much, but it seems to have left the main line sometime beforehand so wasn't sold by the current King) but it reappeared in 2014, where it sold at auction for over £2.2 million in 2014, so it is clearly an extremely valuable necklace.
It is now being sold by Symbolic & Chase, which I understand sometimes act as an intermediary and may not actually own the items.
The Swedish royal collection remains one of the most varied and impressive of all the European royal houses - although I do think their collection is missing a significant pearl tiara and a necklace of this importance was a huge loss.
The items that have passed through the Swedish royal house and left are quite remarkable and tragic! I know the Bernadotte Foundation has secured many wonderful pieces for posterity but it is confusing why some items were considered worthy of preservation such as the Sapphire parure and this pearl necklace was not.
Fortunately, the pearl tiara worn by Queen Margrethe II and ruby parure worn by Crown Princess Mary made their way to Denmark and the grand diamond tiara and emerald parure made their way to Norway but very sadly this fabulous pearl necklace was lost and is no longer worn by a royal lady!
What a loss! How marvellous it would have looked on Queen Silvia.
Re: Lost gems - The Swedish Leuchtenberg pearl necklace
I think Queen Victoria was the first person to place many of her historic jewellery in the foundation for future generations, for instance the Leuchtenberg sapphires, which belonged to her.
The jewels you mentioned left the mainline in the generations before her. The pearl necklace belonged to the descendants of Prince Oscar Bernadotte, there are pictures of it being worn, I think by Countess Christine Bernadotte. It would have been lovely if the King had bought it in private when it was for sale the first time, but I think it was very expensive!
It is somewhat unclear to me what is in the foundation today and what is private. The cameo and Connaught tiaras I believe are owned by the King, inherited from his mother. It would be nice if he placed them in the foundation to avoid future divisions.
Re: Lost gems - The Swedish Leuchtenberg pearl necklace
I think Queen Victoria was the first person to place many of her historic jewellery in the foundation for future generations, for instance the Leuchtenberg sapphires, which belonged to her.
The jewels you mentioned left the mainline in the generations before her. The pearl necklace belonged to the descendants of Prince Oscar Bernadotte, there are pictures of it being worn, I think by Countess Christine Bernadotte. It would have been lovely if the King had bought it in private when it was for sale the first time, but I think it was very expensive!
It is somewhat unclear to me what is in the foundation today and what is private. The cameo and Connaught tiaras I believe are owned by the King, inherited from his mother. It would be nice if he placed them in the foundation to avoid future divisions.
Re: Lost gems - The Swedish Leuchtenberg pearl necklace
on December 26, 2020, 5:34 am
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