There are many striking antique Jewels coming up for Auction this month, but unlike the past few years, there are very few Royal and Noble Jewels, an exception being the splendid Mecklenburg-Schwerin Bolin Sapphire Necklace!
When Princess Alexandra of Hanover married Grand Duke Frederick Francis IV of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in 1904, the bride received several spectacular jewels, including a Fabergé Aquamarine Tiara, a Köchert Diamond Choker/Tiara, and this Bolin Sapphire Necklace, featuring:
oval and cushion-shaped sapphires, old-cut diamonds, gold, detachable sapphire links, 1900s unsigned, workmaster’s mark of Vasily Finikov, St Petersburg, scratched inventory number ‘43348’
It is possible that the present necklace was commissioned to Bolin as a gift to Grand Duchess Alexandra, who married Frederick on 7 June 1904. The scratched inventory number ‘43348’ on the present necklace is consistent with the numbering used by Bolin circa 1904.
Grand Duchess Alexandra’s mother-in-law and her aunt Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna were among the main clients of the biggest Russian jewellery houses at the turn of the century, such as Fabergé and Bolin.
Grand Duchess Alexandra of Mecklenburg-Schwerin notably wore the Bolin Sapphire Necklace for a striking Official Portrait taken in Berlin in the 1910s.
While the Grand Duke lost his Throne after the First World War, the family retained their properties and much of their wealth, with the Bolin Sapphire Necklace being worn by Grand Duchess Alexandra with a striking Sapphire and Diamond Tiara for the Wedding Gala of her nephew, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, and Princess Ingrid of Sweden in Stockholm in 1935.
The family did not fare as well during the Second World War, and lost most of their properties, but Grand Duchess Alexandra remained active in royal circles, and and seems to have worn the Sapphire Tiara, and likely the Bolin Sapphire Necklace, for King Frederik IX and Queen Ingrid’s Silver Anniversary Gala in 1960.
The Bolin Sapphire Necklace was last seen on Grand Duchess Alexandra’s granddaughter, Princess Elisabeth of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, Princess zu Ysenburg-Büdingen-Wächtersbach with her grandmother’s Sapphire and Diamond Tiara in the 1990s.
Now, after the death of Princess Elisabeth last year, the Mecklenburg-Schwerin Bolin Sapphire Necklace is going on Auction at Christie’s in Geneva on May 14, with an estimate of CHF 200,000 – CHF 300,000.
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