A Romanov sapphire weighing nearly 198 carats on a diamond-covered bracelet sold at auction for more than 4.1 million Swiss francs ($4.9 million), well above the expected price range, Sotheby’s said.
The cushion-shaped sapphire, attributed to the Russian imperial family, was touted as a very rare stone and was expected to sell for between 850,000 and 1.7 million francs ($1 million and $2 million) at the Geneva auction on Wednesday evening.
The buyer, a private collector, has not been identified.
The 197.80 carat Ceylon Sapphire likely originated in the Mughal Empire in South Asia, entered the Imperial Jewels of Russia in the 19th century, and is one of the most important gemstones of the Russian court.
Empress Dowager Maria Feodorovna, mother of Tsar Nicholas II, wore the sapphire at the 1903 Winter Palace Ball – “widely considered the last great pageant of Imperial Russia and immortalized in some of the most iconic images of the Romanov court,” the auction house said.
After the Russian Revolution, the sapphire was recorded in the inventory before entering the Soviet government’s imperial treasures dispersal sales, Sotheby’s said.
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