More than 200 jewels and precious objects from the House of Württemberg, formerly one of Germany’s noble families, are on display until Monday at Sotheby’s New York, the first stop on a multi-city tour before their November 6-7 auction in Geneva .
“This is not a classic collection in the sense that one person or a couple has collected pieces over the years,” says Philipp von Württemberg, a distant relative of the current heirs who contributed to the sale as an independent professional art consultant. “It’s more of a family treasure that has built up over many generations.”
The family, which originated in the early 1000s, ruled the area around what is now Stuttgart, Germany. And the collection includes pieces from various European noble dynasties, which led to the auction’s title: “Vienna 1900: An Imperial and Royal Collection.”
“It immediately brings to mind the court of Vienna, its glamor and the style that emerged from the court that came from Empress Sisi,” said Andres White Correal, deputy chairman of jewelry at Sotheby, nicknamed Empress Elisabeth of Austria. She “loved rubies and pearls and of course we find plenty of them in this collection.”
Among the most important pieces highlighted by Sotheby’s are two brooches of natural pearls given to Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria-Teschen when she married the Duke of Württemberg in 1865. The first is a flower garland devant de corsage, a large brooch intended to be worn on the front of a dress, with diamonds and pearls. As for the second, a portrait of the Duchess shows her wearing it on a lace ribbon tied around her neck. Each one has a matching case with the name of Viennese jeweler Emil Biedermann and a sales estimate of $300,000 to $500,000.
There are also jewels made by the Viennese jewelry house Köchert, including a tiara set with rubies and another set with pearls, and a five-strand necklace of natural pearls with an elaborate diamond clasp.
The collection also includes three star-shaped diamond brooches by Wilhelm Haarstrick that resemble the stars made by Köchert that Empress Sisi wore as hair ornaments for a portrait of Franz Xaver Winterhalter in 1865.
Men’s accessories in the collection include a Patek Philippe pocket watch with an 1898 certificate, cigarette cases, tie pins and cufflinks.
Mr. von Württemberg described his surprise when he opened a box containing a pair of emerald green cufflinks and found a note stating that they were a gift from Sultan Abdul Hamid II of the Ottoman Empire to King Ferdinand I of Bulgaria. They joined the Württemberg family through the marriage of Nadezhda, a daughter of Ferdinand I, to Duke Albrecht Eugen of Württemberg (in 1924).
The tour has scheduled stops in Frankfurt, Paris, London, Singapore, Taipei and Hong Kong. Referring to the fact that the items had been stored in a safe since 1947, Mr White Correal joked that they may not have traveled for the last 80 years, but they are ‘going to do it now’.