Bidding frenzy as royal diamonds go on sale in London

By Anna Tomforde Jun 14, 2006, 17:46 GMT

London - When the British Royals sell off their family silver, no price seems too high, frantic bidding for the jewellery and personal effects of the late Princess Margaret, younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II, has shown.

Auction rooms at Christie's in London were filled to capacity late Tuesday as more than 1,000 souvenir hunters, including many from as far afield as Russia, Japan, the US, Hongkong, Thailand and Indonesia, clamoured to buy a royal momento.

Among the top items on offer was the diamond tiara Margaret wore on her wedding day in May, 1960, which was sold to an Asian private collector for 926,400 pounds (1.7 million dollars), compared to the maximum estimate of 200,000 pounds.

A silver and gold Fabergé clock, manufactured in Moscow between 1896 and 1908, and said to have been at Margaret's bedside for most of her life, fetched a world record price of 1.2 million pounds. It had been estimated at a maximum of 800,000 pounds.

'It seems people are prepared to pay anything for royal possessions,' said one commentator, as newspapers Wednesday hailed the auction as the 'sale of the century.'

Within minutes, it became evident that the two-day auction would far outstrip its modest estimate. By close of business late Tuesday, the sale of 190 items - out of a total of 800 made available - had yielded a staggering 9.5 million pounds (17.3 million dollars).

This was more than three times the estimate placed on the treasures by Margaret's children, Viscount Linley and Lady Sarah Chatto, who released the personal items in order to be able to pay inheritance tax on the estate of their mother, who died in 2002.

While they can look forward to a much higher than expected yield, not everyone has been happy with the sale of Margaret's personal belongings, accumulated partly through inheritance and partly as gifts during her lifetime.

'It is as if her whole life is going up for sale', one critic said.

The queen is said to be concerned that some heirlooms, including family jewellery and a famous painting of Margaret, would pass out of hands of the royal family.

Lord Snowdon, the star photographer and Margaret's former husband, also voiced worries at the sale of some of the personal items, but was unsuccessful in his bid to make Christie's withdraw any of the lots.

Personal attachments, however, were of little concern to the frantic bidders in Christie's auction rooms, offering exaggerated prices for even the simplest trinkets.

The buyers crammed into the sale rooms competed with 1,000 written bids received in advance and more than 500 bidders joining the action on the telephone from all points of the globe.

According to Christie's, 58 per cent of registered buyer activity was from the UK, 15 per cent from the rest of Europe, 16 per cent from the Americas, ten per cent from Asia and one per cent from the Middle East.

Gasps of astonishment regularly broke out as new staggering prices were banged down on the diamond brooches, necklaces and bracelets, displayed and carried round for inspection on velvet cushions by young girls.

Francois Curiel, the chairman of Christie's Europe, conducting the auction, revealed that he had received calls from people who said they wanted what was on offer 'at any price.'

As collectors flew in for the day from Asia and America, pieces fetched up to 150 times their original estimate.

'This is unprecedented, as the market decided the added value of royal provenance,' said Curiel.

A 'simple child's necklace' of rubies, cultured pearls and diamonds, worn by Princess Margaret on her second birthday, climbed from an estimate of 1,200 pounds to sell for 27,600 pounds.

Individual jewellery items such as brooches, watches and earrings made up to 40,000 pounds with ease, while empty boxes that once contained them were as much in demand.

A snake bracelet offered for 1,000 pounds was snatched up for nearly 41,000 pounds, and a 'modest' gilt hedgehog brooch, advertised by Christie's as a 'bargain' at 50 to 100 pounds, found a buyer for 5,760 pounds.

With furniture, silver items, pictures and a famous portrait of Margaret by Italian painter Pietro Annigoni (1910-1988) still due to be sold, the auction may well raise a record figure, analysts said.

It could equal, or exceed, the 1987 sale of the Duchess of Windsor's jewels in Geneva in 1987, the last great disposal of royal baubles, which made an astonishing total of 31 million pounds.