Duchess of Windsor's Jewels on Sale at Sotheby's


The late Duchess of Windsor's jewels went on sale again at Sotheby's. The items up for grabs include this gorgeous bracelet made by Cartier.  The Duke gave his bride many beautiful gifts during their long marriage.  Rumor has it that Madonna has bid on several pieces.  She's currently directing a movie called W.E. about the Windors.  20 pieces of jewelry were sold Tuesday night for 8 million pounds which is roughly I would say almost $16 million dollars.

Here is an article from Hello Magazine regarding the sale and one from the Daily Mail in the UK about the sale itself.  Apparently the Duke didn't always pay for the jewelry that he bought for the Duchess or the jewelers had to wait for a long time for their money.  Perhaps he thought that just the fact that he bought the jewelry and the Duchess was wearing it was payment enough, instead of giving them cold hard cash!

If you had the money, would you have bid on an item from the collection?  Whose jewelry would you like to own? Personally I would love the diamond necklace that caused all the fuss during Marie Antoinette's reign.

Comments

Evangeline Holland said…
I would! I neither like nor dislike Wallis, but she is fascinating, and she had great taste in jewelry. Otherwise, I think I'd want to buy some of the gems from the Marlborough collection, when the 7th Duke sold off some family heirlooms for money in the 1870s.
December 2, 2010 at 6:52 PM
Elizabeth Kerri Mahon said…
Hi Evangeline, I agree with you. The Daily Mail article was clearly biased against the Duchess and her taste in jewelry. I, for one, would adore to have the Cartier panther bracelet.
December 3, 2010 at 11:57 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Many Lives of Beryl Markham

Image
“A life has to move or it stagnates. Even this life, I think. Every tomorrow ought not to resemble every yesterday.” – Beryl Markham   Two of my favorite writers, Lauren Willig and Deanna Raybourn , have writers have novels set in Kenya during the 1920’s. I have previously written about some of the denizens of the Happy Valley Set (Alice de Janze, Idina Sackville) before but I was all of a sudden inspired to read more about Beryl Markham. Way back in the 1980’s, after OUT OF AFRICA was released, there was a miniseries on CBS called SHADOW ON THE SUN starring Stephanie Powers as Markham. I vaguely remember a scene were Powers as Markham says “I’ve flown the Atlantic” in a really terrible English accent. Born in England but raised in Kenya, Beryl Markham was a notorious beauty. She trained race horses and had scandalous affairs, but she is most remembered for being a pioneering aviatrix. She became the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean and the first person to make it
Read more

Scandalous Women in Fiction: Irene Forsyte

Image
I recently watched 2002 Granada Television production of John Galsworthy's The Forsyte Saga again to immerse myself in the world of the Victorians. I was struck again by the character of Irene Heron Forsyte, the mysterious, and aloof beauty that is at the heart of the first series. During the course of the first six episodes she manages to enchant not one but three of the Forsyte men as well as stealing the heart of Philip Bosinney, the fiance of her good friend June Forsyte. She leaves her husband Soames, which causes a scandal, that reverberates throughout the second series. Soames is never really able to get over losing Irene. Irene is certainly a Scandalous Woman but it is less about what she does than how the men in her life perceive her that makes her so Scandalous. When we first meet Irene in both the television series she is living in Bournemouth with her stepmother. Her father who was a Professor (we are not told of what) has died, leaving Irene with only 50 pounds a year
Read more

Royal Princess, Royal Scandal - the sad life of Princess Margaret

Image
It'll be six years next month that HRH Princess Margaret passed away at the age of 71. Apparently her ex-husband, Lord Snowdon has decided to share intimate details of his marriage to the late Princess in a new biography. According to Hello Magazine: "News of the book, which is set to hit UK stores in the summer, may come as a surprise to many royal watchers. "There has always been an understanding that no biography would be published during his lifetime," says royal author Tim Heald - who wrote a biography of the Queen's late sister. "He has never spoken a word in public about Margaret," he continues, "He has remained very loyal to her and to her memory." "However, the royal snapper, who married the beautiful, blue-eyed royal at Westminster Abbey in 1960, has given his "full agreement" to the new biography by well-known journalist Anne de Courcy. "I am now happy for people to know about my life and I want to put the record
Read more