Big Bids For Margaret's Baubles
Cherished jewelry worn by Britain's Princess Margaret raised $17.3 million on Tuesday, in the first day of a two-day sale at Christie's in London.
The items, from diamond-encrusted brooches to pearl earnings and designer watches, were snapped up in frenetic bidding.
One of the most-watched items was the tiara Margaret wore at her 1960 wedding to Lord Snowdon (pictured at left). Originally designed in 1870 for Lady Poltimare, it fetched $1.7 million, far more than its $360,000 pre-sale estimate.
A Faberge clock made in 1900 and given to Margaret by her grandmother, Queen Mary, fetched $2.2 million, while the antique diamond necklace Queen Mary wore at her 1937 coronation sold for $1.6 million.
Some pieces sold for many times their estimated value as collectors and fans of British royalty vied to own something that once belonged to the Queen's sister. The auction house had estimated that the auction of jewelry, furniture, art and miscellaneous household items would bring in about $15 million over two days.
A cultured pearl pin shaped as a butterfly, with an estimated price of up to $110, sold for $11,000, while a lady's wrist watch by Mathey-Tissot, expected to sell up to $183, fetched $8,800.
Alan Hamilton, a royal expert, said none of the pieces were withdrawn before the auction, despite there being "some controversy about the sale of these items and in particular the sale of some of the pictures." There were reports that the late princess' ex-husband, Anthony Armstrong-Jones, wrote a letter to the auction house protesting the sale of some of the personal items by his children.
Hamilton said there had even been suggestions that when bidding came up on a portrait of the princess painted by society painter Pietro Annigoni, "the Queen might secretly bid to try and buy it and keep it in the family."
Around 1,000 potential buyers filled five sales rooms at Christie's, and another 500 collectors were bidding by telephone.
More than 800 pieces of Margaret's jewelry and furniture are being sold by her children Viscount Linley and Lady Sarah Chatto to pay inheritance tax on the princess's estate.
Some of the proceeds will go to charity, one of the main beneficiaries being the Princess Margaret fund at the Stroke Association, founded by David Linley.
"It's by far the most important royal auction we've ever had and we will probably never see it again in our lifetime," said Christie's spokeswoman Rhiannon Bevan-John. "The intensity and interest is so high, probably because she is the reigning monarch's sister and that is unheard of."