During the recording of the 5th season of The Crown, I rescued the story of one of Princess Diana‘s best-known jewels, a set of necklace and earrings made of diamonds and pearls known as “the Swan Lake necklace”. Pieces personally commissioned by the princess in the late 1990s are up for auction. It is estimated that it could reach 15 million dollars. The auction is scheduled for June 27 at Guernsey’s in New York.
As we remembered last year, Diana only wore the set once, for the presentation of the ballet Swan Lake, in 1997, hence the name given to the jewel. It became famous for being the last public event in London that she attended before she died in Paris in August. The set was created by the jeweler of the crown (who was the director of the centenary Gerrard jewelry), with the necklace uniting 164 cut diamonds, 14 marquise diamonds completed by five pearls from the South Sea in the form of drops and earrings of 30 diamonds (15 in each), six marquise diamonds and two pearls.
The piece was incomplete when Diana wore it, so it was returned to be finished. It would be a gift from Dodi Fayed, who also died in the same accident as her. The princess’s family authorized the sale of the piece, something rare because all the others stayed with the heirs (Prince William and Prince Harry) and it was auctioned for the first time 23 years ago, in the event called “The Ultimate Auction”. Who first bought the piece was a Texan millionaire who nine years later put it up for sale again, going to end up for an amount never revealed with the Ukrainian developer Mark Ginzburg. Now, because of the war with Russia, Ginzburg is putting the set up for new buyers and says a portion of the proceeds from the sale will be used to help rebuild Ukraine.
The auction will be broadcast live at the Pierre Hotel in New York from 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm. In 2009 they even spoke of 12 million dollars collected. Will they make it to 15? Today it would be something around more than 75 million reais. Who will take it?
After Kim Kardashian spent nearly a million dollars to purchase the Cross of Attallah, a purple cross-shaped necklace worn by the princess at a charity dinner in 1987, I can only anticipate who else would be interested in the equally famous and unique Swan Lake necklace.
Bidding can be done online and live. Certainly destined to break records.
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