The Duchess of Windsor Collection
The Duchess of Windsor Collection reached the highest world record for a single-owner jewelry sale ever conducted. The famous royal jewels were sold in 1987, by Sotheby's in Geneva for the record price of $53.5 million. The Wallis Simpson jewelry collection consisted of 214 pieces. The Duchess of Windsor jewels were not only unique for the record price it sold, but because it grew out of the most controversial love story of modern times. These jewels of the Duchess of Windsor Collection, that King Edward VIII of the British Royal family gave to Wallis Warfield Simpson were only part of the story though. The couple marked the milestones of their romance and 20 years of marriage with jeweled gifts. The Cartier jewels from Wallis Simpson and King Edward VIII is to be sold by Sotheby's at auction in November, 2010. Among the pieces in the Duchess of Windsor collection to be auctioned November, this Fall 2010, is the Cartier Diamond Bracelet that the Duchess wore on their wedding day. These astonishing pieces of the Duchess of Windsor collection to be auctioned 2010 tell again the Wallis and Edward (WE) story in a most personal way and no doubt like the Sotheby's auction in 1987 that preceding it twenty three years ago, it will set the international society and press agog.
For the Love of Wallis SimpsonEven celebrity couples were no match for this royal couple in love. Indeed, so proud was King Edward VIII of the royal jewels he gave to Wallis Simpson, he was said to have wanted the duchess of windsor collection dismantled after her death so no one could ever wear them.But, the King of England who became the Duke of Windsor in 1936 when he abdicated the throne to marry Wallis Simpson, the American divorcee was not to have his way...... Around 1,000 bidders crowded into a huge tent erected by Sotheby's next to Lake Geneva for the two-day sale. In Sotheby's New York another 600 people were in the main salesroom to view slides of the Duchess of Windsor jewels and to have their bids relayed to Geneva. The jewel that commanded the highest price reached nearly £2m ($3.15m) and was for a 31-carat diamond ring by a Japanese jeweller. Designed in 1935, by the then-Prince of Wales for his future bride, a plume-shaped diamond brooch was sold to
Elizabeth Taylor.
Elizabeth was a close friend of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and said that she often admired the diamond plume brooch when Wallis Simpson wore it, and bought it mainly for sentimental reasons. Another famous jewel in the collection was a sapphire pendant, that was rumoured to have been bought on behalf of fellow British actress and famous celebrity, Joan Collins. Sapphires were the Duchess of Windsor's favorite jewels; she believed they brought out the color of her eyes. The Duchess was also a lover of Natural Pearls. A magnificent strand of natural pearls formerly from the collection of the Duchess of Windsor was acquired by Kellie and Calvin Klein. Among the gifts Edward lavished on Wallis were the so-called ‘Great Cats’ commissioned from master jewelers, in collaboration with Edward, creating an international passion for fabulous feline bijoux. Among the "Great Cats" is the Panther Bracelet; bought for the permanent collection of The Franklin Mint at the Sotheby’s Auction on April 2-3, 1987, in Geneva Switzerland. Jewelry speaks in a way that words can't....was it purely a coincidence, were the great cats commission solely for the passion of feline bijoux? You see, among the Great Cats on earth, the Leopard is the gold hallmark of England, the lion, a symbol of the King of England and these cats have been for thousands of years... could the Great Cats Edward commissioned be a subtle but tremendously powerful statement in itself, that Edward, whatever, was King? Jewelry talks, as often is the case with the decorative arts, in a way that politics in the 20th century could not. Read about the Sexuality of Wedding Rings Here. Please visit my big cat fund raising page and donate to the Cheetah Conservation Fund, in honor of the marriage of Wallis and King Edward on the 3 rd June 1937.
If you find the information on this page interesting and would like to reproduce the material elsewhere, permission is granted, on condition that you Reference My Work. Thank you! References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallis,_Duchess_of_Windsor Return to the top of The Duchess of Windsor Collection Return to Famous Collections Return to
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