GENEVA: A tiara passed down through generations of Italy's royal family will be among the highlights at a Sotheby's auction of jewels in Geneva next week.
Dating to the second half of the 19th century, the tiara was a wedding gift to Maria Vittoria dal Pozzo upon her marriage in 1867 to Amadeo I of Savoy, later king of Spain.
The tiara features graduated scroll motifs set with diamonds and natural pearls and is on sale with an estimate price of $1 million to $1.5 million.
"It's a true, beautiful and historic piece which has remained in the House of Savoy for over 150 years," said Benoit Repellin, head of magnificent jewels sales at Sotheby's.
The May 11 sale also features large diamonds and coloured gemstones, including a 1930s sapphire and diamond brooch featuring the largest Kashmir sapphire ever to appear at auction - a 55.19-carat oval gem - alongside a Kashmir sapphire weighing 25.97 carats.
Estimated to fetch $2 million to $3 million, it belonged to an heiress of the Guinness brewery fortune, said Olivier Wagner, senior director of the jewellery department at Sotheby's.
Kashmir sapphires are sought after as they were discovered at the end of the 19th century and the mines were only exploited over 20 years, he told Reuters.
"The only way to find them is to buy them at auction," he said.
Reuters
Fri May 07 2021
A staff holds a diamond and pearl tiara passed down through generations of the Italian royal family during a preview at Sotheby's before their auction in Geneva, Switzerland. REUTERSpic
How transgender troops prepared to fight Trump's new policy
Advocates argue the executive order stigmatises transgender service members by labeling them medically and morally unfit.
India orders probe into Kumbh festival stampede that killed dozens
The government has decided that a judicial inquiry of the incident will be done, says Uttar Pradesh state Chief Minister.
Tunku Mahkota Ismail calls for mindset change to solve persistent issues in M-League
Tunku Mahkota Ismail also addressed other concerns about late salary payments and some team management's neglect of their clubs' welfare.
What were the aircraft involved in midair crash in Washington DC?
Air traffic control recordings appear to capture the final attempted communications with the helicopter, before it collides with the plane.
Tesla commits to cheaper cars in first half, sees autonomous vehicles 'in the wild' in June
Tesla says the company would start testing a paid autonomous car service in June.
Vehicles plough into people outside KL nightspot, two injured
The police receive a report about the incident from a 24-year-old man who witnesses it.
Girl, 7, dies of suspected abuse by parents
Police says the post-mortem found old and fresh abuse signs on the victim, with death caused by abdominal injuries from a blunt object.
American Airlines jet, Army helicopter collide, crash into Washington's Potomac River
The Washington Post reports that multiple bodies have been recovered from the water.
UK backs third runway at London's Heathrow Airport
Heathrow Airport is operating at 99% capacity and risks being overtaken in Europe.
Sarawak floods: Number of victims almost doubles to 5,385
Based on the latest report from the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee Secretariat, Bintulu has the highest number of flood victims.
Plane crash in South Sudan kills 20 oil workers
The small aircraft carrying oil workers in South Sudan's Unity State crashed on takeoff from its oilfield airport.
Miri landslide: Residents urged to evacuate if ordered
Sarawak Transport Minister says this is to prevent a recurrence of the recent tragedy in Kampung Lereng Bukit, which claimed five lives.
Families reunite in north Gaza as huge crowds return to smashed homes
Thousands of displaced people returning from south are going back looking for surviving family members and whatever remains of their homes.
Syria's Sharaa declared president for transition, consolidating his power
Sharaa was also empowered to form a temporary legislative council for a transitional period and the Syrian constitution was suspended.
Atomic scientists adjust 'Doomsday Clock' closer than ever to midnight
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists set the clock to 89 seconds before midnight - the theoretical point of annihilation.
Alibaba releases AI model it claims surpasses DeepSeek-V3
Alibaba's cloud unit says, Qwen 2.5-Max outperforms almost across the board GPT-4o, DeepSeek-V3 and Llama-3.1-405B.
India sends navigation satellite into orbit on ISRO rocket in landmark launch
India successfully launched into orbit a new navigation satellite aboard a home-grown rocket.
RON95, RON97 prices unchanged, diesel up by five cents in Peninsular M'sia
MOF announces that the retail prices of RON95 and RON97 petrol will remain unchanged at RM2.05 per litre and RM3.43 per litre, respectively.
Rescuers attempt to recover truck swallowed by sinkhole in Japan
The trailer of the truck was retrieved by rescuers, but the man is still trapped inside the truck and is unresponsive.
Minor earthquake detected in Ranau - MetMalaysia
According to MetMalaysia, the earthquake occurred 11 kilometres west of Ranau at a depth of four kilometres.