Diamond brooch Napoleon lost during his escape from the Battle of Waterloo to be auctioned for the first time

Very few can afford these jewels, but we can all dream about them and the stories behind them. The renowned auction house Sotheby’s is preparing to hold one of its most anticipated annual events, the Royal & Noble Jewels auction, on November 12 at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Geneva. The collection contains extraordinary pieces that after years in private hands or royal collections are now seeking new owners.

Although the online bidding has been active since the end of October, the auction will officially begin Wednesday. This year’s star lot is a diamond brooch that belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte, which he lost at the Battle of Waterloo (1815). It is estimated to have a starting price of between $150,000 and $250,000. The auction also includes other spectacular pieces of jewelry, such as a unique hair ornament created around 1840, which will be auctioned alongside a brooch with natural pearls and diamonds that belonged to a European noble family. Also included are jewels belonging to the last Ottoman princess, Fatma Neslisah (who died aged 91 in 2012), and a magnificent selection of tiaras.

The beauty of Napoleon’s piece is matched only by its historical significance: it is a circular diamond brooch, approximately 45 millimeters in diameter, with a large oval diamond at its center weighing 13.04 carats; the nearly one hundred antique mined diamonds surrounding it, in various shapes and sizes, are arranged in two concentric rows. It was created for Napoleon around 1810, most likely to adorn his bicorn hat on special occasions.

As for its historical value, the brooch was among the personal belongings the emperor took with him to Waterloo, including medals, weapons, silverware, a hat, and a jewelry box containing dozens of loose diamonds and other jewels. On June 18, 1815, in his haste to flee Waterloo, after his troops had been crushed by the British and Prussian armies, Napoleon had to abandon some of his carriages when they became stuck on a muddy road a few miles from the battlefield, including the one containing the brooch. It was subsequently offered as a war trophy to the Prussian King Frederick William III on June 21, 1815, just three days after the battle. For centuries, it belonged to the German dynasty of the House of Hohenzollern before ending up in another private collection, where it has remained for the past several years. It will now go up for auction for the first time at the Sotheby’s event, alongside another Napoleon jewel, an unmounted 132.66-carat emerald — with a starting price of between $39,000 and $59,000 — that Emperor Napoleon I wore at his coronation in 1804 and that also belonged to the Hohenzollerns.

Another highly anticipated lot is the spectacular diamond and pink diamond ring, of over 13 carats, from the collection of Princess Fatma Neslisah (1921-2012), a jewel also being offered at auction for the first time. This piece bears witness to the decline of one of the most historically significant royal dynasties, the Ottomans. Its owner was the last to have her birth recorded in the palace register of members of her dynasty before the fall of the once-powerful Ottoman Empire. She was thus the last person to officially receive the title of “Sultan,” or Princess of the Imperial Blood, and embodied the end of an era of unbridled opulence, both in her native Turkey and in Egypt, where she married Muhammad Abdel Moneim (1899-1979), the heir to the last reigning house of the Arab country, which was overthrown during the Egyptian Revolution in 1952.

Among the other precious jewels included in Sotheby’s auction, a hair accessory and brooch set stands out. Estimated at between $422,000 and $620,000, it is presented as an extraordinary example of Romantic-era jewelry. The ornament is exceptionally rare, perhaps the last-known example of a jeweled hair ornament designed to frame the face. According to family tradition, the significant collection of natural pearls adorning the jewel and its brooch belonged to Kunigunde of Saxony, Marchioness of Montoro (1774–1820), a cousin of King Louis XVI.

In 2024, Sotheby’s Royal & Noble Jewels auction put up for sale a rare and historic 300-carat 18th-century diamond necklace that had belonged to the Marquesses of Anglesey — with possible links to Queen Marie Antoinette — one of the most exceptional Georgian jewels in private hands, which fetched $4.8 million.

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