The buyer of a spectacular diamond necklace from the jewel case of the Austrian billionaire heiress Heidi Horten (1941-2022) has made a bargain worth millions. Auction house Christie’s had valued the piece, which features a fabled diamond, at up to 14 million francs, but the hammer fell at 5.2 million francs (5.3 million euros) at Wednesday’s auction in Geneva. A commission is due, so the buyer has to pay a good 6.3 million francs plus – depending on where you live – VAT. It is not known who bought the piece.
The chain contains the pear-shaped “Briolette of India” diamond with a good 90 carats. According to legend, the chain is said to have belonged to Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen of France, as early as the 12th century. However, according to the Natural Diamond Council, there is also a story that the diamond originated in South Africa and belonged to Pierre Cartier, who invented an exotic story to enhance it. “Briolette” describes a rare cut.
A total of almost 100 of Horten’s 700 pieces of jewelery went under the hammer. More will be auctioned on Friday, online and at another auction in the fall. Christie’s estimated the entire collection at around 136 million euros. The money is to benefit a museum in Vienna with the Horten art collection and medical research.
Horten was heir to the German department store king Helmut Horten, who died in 1987 and who had laid the foundation for his fortune during the Nazi era when he took over department stores from expropriated Jews. A report commissioned by Heidi Horten in early 2022 came to the conclusion that while Horten benefited from the Nazi expropriations, he did not promote them himself. Christie’s will donate a portion of the proceeds from the auction to an organization dedicated to Holocaust research and education.
Many pieces achieved prices well above the estimated price on Wednesday. A ring with a pink diamond was auctioned for almost twice its estimate, for a total of 9.1 million francs (9.3 million euros), including the commission for the auction house.