A Romanov sapphire weighing nearly 198 carats on a diamond-covered bracelet sold for more than 4.1 million Swiss francs ($4.9 million) at auction, vastly higher than the expected price range, reports BritPanorama.
The cushion-shaped sapphire, attributed to onetime ownership of Russia’s imperial family, was billed as a very rare stone and had been expected to fetch between 850,000 and 1.7 million francs ($1 million and $2 million) at the Geneva auction late Wednesday.
The buyer, who remains unidentified, was a private collector.
This 197.80-carat Ceylon sapphire likely originated from the Mughal Empire in south Asia, making its way into Russia’s imperial jewels in the 19th century. It is considered one of the most important surviving gemstones from the Russian court.
Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, mother of Czar Nicholas II, famously wore the sapphire at the Winter Palace Ball of 1903—an event widely regarded as the last great spectacle of Imperial Russia and captured in some of the most iconic images of the Romanov court, according to the auction house.
After the Russian Revolution, the sapphire was recorded in inventory before being included in the Soviet government’s dispersal sales of imperial treasures, Sotheby’s noted.
