[Caitlin]

"La Regente"-La Perle Napoléon

This pearl was sold October 11, 2005 for $2,516,360.00

Another record was set for a single pearl, La Perle Napoleon, also known as La Regente. The oval-shaped natural pearl, weighing 302.68 grams is set in a silver and gold mount with old-cut diamonds. It was sold previously at Christie’s Geneva in 1988 for $850,000, a world record at the time. The record was truly smashed at this sale. The pearl was sold to an Asian private for $2,516,360, three times the high estimate.

[Caitlin]

Here is a picture of La Regente being worn by HSH Princess Zinaida Yusupova

[Caitlin]

There is possibly a description of the big bling bling at the bottom of this AGTA article
http://www.agta.org/gtc/20051122-pas...obscurity.html

Christie's Sets New Auction Records
At the recent Christie's Magnificent Jewels sale in Geneva, Switzerland, several new records were set. Foremost among these was a crown set with 1,000 carats of white and yellow diamonds and pearls. It sold for SFr.7,972,000 (US$6,138,440), the highest price for a piece of jewelry sold this year, as well as the most expensive crown ever sold at auction in the world.

The Régente, a large historic pearl from the French Crown Jewels, sold recently at Christie's Geneva for $2.5 million. This pearl measures 17.6 x 20.8 x 28.5 mm and weighs approximately 302.68 grains (75.67 carats). Photo by Denis Hayone – Diode SA; courtesy Christie's; used with permission.

Another exceptional item was the large historic pearl from the French Crown Jewels, La Régente, the fifth largest gem-quality pearl known to exist (Lot 354). It realized SFr.3,628,000 ($2,516,360). It was previously sold by Christie’s Geneva in 1988 for The following article is from the Agta$859,100. According to Christie's:
La Régente, the highly important pearl of incredible size and weight, 302.68 grains, was given by Emperor Napoleon I (1769–1821) to his second wife Marie-Louise in 1811, and originally set in a tiara. In 1853, Napoleon III (1808–1873) put the pearl into a corsage as a wedding present for his future Empress and wife, Eugénie de Montijo. In 1887, when the French Crown Jewels were sold at auction in Paris, the pearl was given the name, La Régente and was purchased by Fabergé of St. Petersburg for Princess Zenaïde Youssoupov (1861–1939), heir to a Russian fortune.
Sold as part of the same collection as La Régente was a unique jewel with more than 1,500 carats of pearls, along with almost 1,000 carats of diamonds and sapphires. It fetched SFr.2,148,000 ($1,653,960). This modern two-part natural pearl necklace was created to set off La Régente at its center. The collection totaled SFr.19 million ($14.7 million) for eighteen pieces, well ahead of pre-sale expectations of $8 million.

[Slraep]

Here's a pic of the corsage incorporating the Regente pearl Emperor Napoléon III gave his fiance who later became Empress Eugenie. Gabriel Lemonnier of 25 de la place Vendcome, then jeweller to the court, created a superb pearl and diamond corsage in the current 18th century style.

The Regente pearl came from parures that were commisioned by Napoleon I for his wife Marie Louise, which were all created by the French crown jeweller François-Regnault Nitot and sold to Napoléon I prior to 1813 for the total amount of 6,600,000 gold francs.

The corsage is sometimes said to be a stomacher by some.

[knotty panda]

For the corsage impaired like me,

stom·ach·er – noun a richly ornamented garment covering the stomach and chest, worn by both sexes in the 15th and 16th centuries, and later worn under a bodice by women.

[Caitlin]

Here is a lousy picture of La Regente with da big bling bling

[Slraep]

That Da Big Bling Bling thing would be a stomacher if the rosette part was hanging lower. As it is, it's pretty much a boobacher-breastacher?

Slraep
P.S. God but that blingy thing is aweful. At least royalty of old had some taste and elegance. Well, okay not all of them.

[Caitlin]

I was quite snipey about da big bling bling in the original thread. Vulgar is what my mom would have called it- to say the least!
I am thinking it was made around 1910 because of the assymetry. I think it would have been quite appropriate for the vice-regent of India's wife to wear while reviewing the troops-doncha think? One would have to remain standing though- it is too long to sit down while being worn..

I think Queen Mary II could have carried it off, but she would have thought it was vulgar too. ...

[Slraep]

Hi Caitlin,

I'm having a hard time believeing DBBB could be part of the Romania's lost royal jewels. Did someone write an article about that? I wonder....who could have commisioned such a thing? The Romanian royals seemed to have much better taste---unless, after it was made, one of the royals said to themselves, "Good Lord, I'll have to lock this one up in the vault and throw away the key. A stray beam of sunlight hitting it might blind someone permnantly!!"

Slraep

[Caitlin]

What made me say that was the lousy picture above. It was in someone's photo bucket, but the page looks like it came from the page of one of those royal jewel collections such as we have linked to recently on this forum.

One thing. This thing looks like it was put together to contain as many important pearls and sapphires as possible- like the entire royal collection in one big unit.

That 2005 auctrion in which La Regente was featured also featured several lots of important sapphires and other large pearls. Zeide's opinion was a multimillionaire bought them all and assembled the big unit in 2005?!!!. I think it is far more likely that it was disassembled and sold in 2005 because it is unwearable and unsaleable in the big unit version. It would bring in far higher prices when sold individually. What do you Think?

[Slraep]

I think you are right Caitlin. Dismantling that monstrosity would allow for many daintier pieces to be made that are actually wearable, in better taste and more easily sellable.

I'm pretty convinced too that the monstrosity was a fairly recent hodge-podge of antique and new jewellery elements put together by some "haute joaillerie" house with an employee called Freddie except this guy was weilding a jeweller's torch and some soulder instead of a chain saw. Thank heaven that whole thing was probably dismantled for the auction.

Also, Indian jewellery is so exotic, intricate and beautiful that I do not think this lame attempt at ostentation would be something an Indian royal would wear (although fun to imagine!) or buy. It's set in white gold which does nothing for the stunning Indian complexion. No, it's gotta have been "welded" in America or Europe and then dismantled for the auction. I think you are right again.

Slraep

[Caitlin]

The trick would be to find where that page was from originally (the one with HSH Princess Zinaida Yusupova collaged with the big unit.

Platinum would be much stronger than white gold- what makes you say white gold?

Well we got much further with our speculations in this threead- at least we found another picture of the big unit.

But it is so much fun guessing.

[Slraep]

Caitlin, that amount of platinum would be really, really, really heavy!! The pearl strands supporting the rosettes would not be able to support that much platinum+gems.

Slraep

[Caitlin]

La Regente alone weighs almost 3/4 of a pound! I don't think weight is a factor. Who could have cobbled this together? The provenancce on La Regente is fairly clear. Le Regente was the centerpiece of the big unit- therefore someone who owned La Regente had the big unit made.

I thought platinum because it can be made so thin and still be strong-it would take less metal than gold to get the same strength. But I am not a jeweler, just a guesser.

[Slraep]

Originally Posted by Caitlin Williams

Who could have cobbled this together? The provenancce on La Regente is fairly clear. Le Regente was the centerpiece of the big unit- therefore someone who owned La Regente had the big unit made.

It must have been cobbled(heheheh) by one of the big name jewellery houses. Important jewels are almost never remodelled by a no name jeweller. If I were the jewellery house that did the work, I think that after viewing the result, I wouldn't want to admit I had anything to do with it. So that might be the case here.

Yes, who commisioned the big unit and who perpetrated the work? Those are the questions.