If you’ve seen the spectacular television series The Gilded Age, you’ll be familiar with images of the riches and opulence of New York high society of the 1880s. The gowns, hats and gloves are gorgeous, and nary an outfit is seen without jewels. Now, actual gilded age jewellery from the prominent Vanderbilt family is coming to auction. In Geneva this November, Phillips is putting up for sale a collection of 12 jewels that come Gladys Moore Vanderbilt, the Countess Széchenyi through her marriage to the Hungarian Count László Széchenyi.
The Vanderbilts are one of the most famous and evocative American dynasties. The family—whose immense wealth was based in shipping and railroads—came to prominence in the late 19th century. At first considered nouveau riche, their fortunes and influence meant they were eventually absorbed into the echelons of New York high society. The Vanderbilts also happen to be the very family that the Russells on The Gilded Age are based on. Television might mix fact and fiction for thrilling drama, but what’s inarguable is that the jewels of America’s wealthiest at the time were fabulous.
Phillips’s auction of Vanderbilt jewels include two standouts. The star is inarguably the Vanderbilt Sapphire, a brooch set with a rare sugarloaf Kashmir sapphire brooch weighing 42.68 carats. The jewel, which dates to the early 20th century, was a gift to Gladys Vanderbilt from her mother, and is accented with old-cut diamonds in a classical Belle Époque style. The second highlight is a Cartier lily spray design diamond brooch that was originally part of a larger tiara. It’s set with an old-cut pear diamond, but it’s the superb fineness of Cartier’s handwork that makes this jewel so elegant—exquisite, delicate millegrain that looks as though its diamonds were held by air.
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This Fall season, a number of other thrilling highlights are going under the hammer at the world’s greatest auctioneers. At Christie’s Magnificent Jewels, a one-of-a-kind blue diamond has emerged. The Mellon Blue is a 9.51-carat Fancy Vivid Blue diamond that’s graded Internally Flawless—a remarkable gemstone that was named for and belonged to Bunny Mellon, one of the great jewel fiends of modern times. She was, after all, a close friend and patron of the jewellery designer Jean Schlumberger, a key figure in the inspiration and enduring influence of Schlumberger’s designs for Tiffany & Co. like the Bird on a Rock and the Croisillon enamel bangles. The Mellon Blue itself is said to be one of the finest coloured diamonds to appear on the market in decades—pinks and blues are doing well these days—and is expected to hit a record price.
Meanwhile at Sotheby’s, an important (and indeed Gilded Age-era as well) Boucheron ruby necklace is hitting the market. The circa-1888 jewel was commissioned by Marie-Louise Mackay, wife of American industrialist John William Mackay. The Mackays moved to Paris in 1876, and Marie-Louise became a loyal client at Boucheron—commissioning grand creations from the Parisian jeweller. The necklace was later acquired by Countess Mona von Bismarck, an American socialite who was famous among the French couturiers of the 1920s and ’30s for being one of the most stylish women on the planet. The importance of the necklace is such that it features on the cover of Vincent Meylan’s book Boucheron: The Secret Archives, which tells stories from inside the maison’s archives of its history and storied clientele.
Here, a look at the highlights of the jewels this auction season to ooh, aah, and drool over.
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At Christie's: The Mellon Blue
The specs of a blue diamond like this is enough to warrant fervent desire: 9.51 carats, Internally Flawless, and a Fancy Vivid Blue colour. Only around a single percent of all diamonds are graded internally flawless; of all diamonds mined, only around 0.02% are coloured blue; and of these already vanishingly small numbers, less than 1% of blue diamonds are so thoroughly hued as to be classified Fancy Vivid.
Add to that the mythos of legendary jewellery collector Bunny Mellon, and you have a gemstone with good odds of making history this November. When it was last offered for sale in Mellon’s auction estate in 2014, a 20 minute bidding war raised its price to US$32.6 million. A little over a decade later, the demand for rare, exceptional coloured diamonds has grown massively. The Mellon Blue set a world-record price for a blue diamond in 2014, but that figure is no longer even in the top 10 today.
The Mellon Blue ring in platinum set with a modified pear brilliant-cut 9.51-carat Fancy Vivid Blue diamond with single-cut diamonds.
Estimate: CHF16,000,000 to 24,000,000.
Offered by Christie’s in Geneva at Magnificent Jewels on 11 November 2025.
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At Christie's: A René Lalique and Tiffany & Co. brooch from the 19th century
You might know Tiffany & Co. as one of the rare jewellers to work with a coterie of named designers, the most famous among them Elsa Peretti, Jean Schlumberger and Paloma Picasso. What might not be as well known is that this tradition started much, much earlier than we give the New York house credit for.
In 1882, Tiffany & Co. began working with René Lalique, a talented designer who was just 22 years old at the time. In the late 19th century, Tiffany was a bridge for the fine jewels of Paris and the newly moneyed elite in America. The jeweller worked with Lalique years before he would form and cement a reputation as a genius master of glass, and this bow is one such fruit of their partnership. It’s crafted as an unfurling, asymmetrical ribbon dotted with diamonds, crafted in gold and platinum—the latter a precious metal that jewellers only started to use and popularise in the late 19th century.
René Lalique and Tiffany & Co. bow brooch in platinum and yellow gold with old-cut diamonds. Circa 1882 – 1899, unsigned, with René Lalique maker’s mark, and with brown Tiffany & Co. case.
Estimate: CHF200,000 to 300,000.
Offered by Christie’s in Geneva at Magnificent Jewels on 11 November 2025.
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At Christie's: A Zip necklace by Van Cleef & Arpels
A Van Cleef & Arpels Zip necklace is a rare thing. These beauties were first introduced by the Parisian high jeweller in the 1950s, taking reference from quotidian zippers—which proliferated postwar—and turning them into haute joaillerie infused with the spirit of couture. Their extravagant nature, with functioning sliding zips, (the best pieces can transform a necklace into a bracelet) makes them necessarily uncommon. They’re opulent, unmistakeable, and represent the fantastical imagination of one of Paris’s greatest jewellery maisons.
Van Cleef & Arpels Zip Antique Coupoles necklace in white gold with violet sapphires and diamonds.
Estimate: CHF180,000 to 250,000.
Offered by Christie’s in Geneva at Magnificent Jewels on 11 November 2025.
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At Phillips: The Vanderbilt Sapphire
The star of Phillips’ jewel auctions this season is this brooch, mounted by Tiffany & Co. and set with the Vanderbilt Sapphire, which comes from the collection of Gladys Moore Vanderbilt, the Countess Széchényi. The early 20th century jewel is defined by its centre stone, a sugarloaf Kashmir sapphire of 42.68 carats with lab reports dating it to approximately 25 million years of age and with no indications of heating.
It’s a rare, covetable gemstone in itself, but it comes wrapped too in the allure of historical jewels from the Gilded Age. Gladys Vanderbilt was one of the ‘dollar princesses’ of the era, American heiresses who wed into European nobility—often trading their massive fortunes for titled prestige. It represents the push-and-pulls of that bygone era, when changing fortunes and powers preceded monumental changes in society.
Tiffany & Co. Vanderbilt Sapphire brooch, set with a sugarloaf 42.68-carat Kashmire sapphire and with diamonds. Circa early 20th century, from the Collection of Gladys Moore Vanderbilt, Countess Széchényi (1886-1965).
Estimate: CHF800,00 to 1,200,000.
Offered by Phillips in The Geneva Jewels Auction: V on 10 November 2025.
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At Phillips: A Cartier diamond brooch owned by Gladys Vanderbilt
The American industrialists of the Gilded Age acquired massive fortunes—though many were considered in their time nouveau riche. As their positions in society rose, they commissioned jewels from the great European jewellers that would portray and give form to their ambitions to exist amongst the world’s elite. Tiaras that took their cue from European nobility were a big thing.
When Gladys Vanderbilt was married to the Hungarian Count László Széchényi in 1908, her mother Alice Vanderbilt commissioned a Belle Époque-style diamond tiara with eight diamond lily sprays and interchangeable amethysts. That tiara was later dismantled, and this brooch survives it as one of the remnant objects of the Vanderbilt family’s power and prestige. It’s remarkable for its delicate, fine workmanship—some evidence of the prowesses of Cartier’s jewellery ateliers even a century ago.
Cartier brooch, set with a pear-shape 4.55-carat E diamond and with circular- and rose-cut diamonds. Circa 1908, from the Collection of Gladys Moore Vanderbilt, Countess Széchényi (1886-1965).
Estimate: CHF80,00 to 120,000.
Offered by Phillips in The Geneva Jewels Auction: V on 10 November 2025.
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At Phillips: A spectacular Plumes necklace by Jean Schlumberger
The jewellery designer Jean Schlumberger is having a moment. One of the great creative talents at Tiffany & Co., the New York brand is defining its contemporary identity around his imaginative artistry. It’s what makes seeing an original Schlumberger so thrilling. This necklace was commissioned by Fiona Campbell-Walter, a model in the 1950s who was born into the ancient Scottish Clan Campbell. She was a beauty of her time, a favourite of Cecil Beaton who graced the pages and covers of Vogue, and became a baroness through marriage to the immensely wealthy Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza.
It was during this marriage, sometime in 1960, that Schlumberger designed this necklace for Campbell-Walter. A fantastical feather design, this Plumes creation embodies the imagination and vivacity of the Jean Schlumberger style. The thorns, the feathered tips, the combination of colours, and the use of platinum and yellow gold—details that persist even today in contemporary designs by Tiffany & Co. that continue Schlumberger’s legacy—mark the piece with the designer’s handwriting.
Jean Schlumberger for Tiffany & Co. Plumes necklace in platinum and yellow gold, with rubies, sapphires and diamonds. Circa 1960, formerly in the collection of Fiona Campbell-Walter, Baroness Thyssen-Bornemisza.
Estimate: CHF240,000 to 400,000.
Offered by Phillips in The Geneva Jewels Auction: V on 10 November 2025.
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At Sotheby's: A Boucheron necklace that's book cover-worthy
Collecting Boucheron at auction is difficult. There’s the simple fact that the ateliers of Frédéric Boucheron were modest in scale, and thus produced a smaller volume of pieces. And there is, by accounts from employees at the maison, the fact that many vintage and antique pieces from the 19th century were not signed. To collect antique Boucheron at auction is, therefore, to be a connoisseur. Even the maison itself, according to CEO Hélène Poulit-Duquesne, fights hard to acquire pieces from its history.
Not too much fact-checking is needed on this spectacular necklace, which actually features on the cover of the book Boucheron: The Secret Archives, written by Vincent Meylan and published in 2011. It’s illustrious enough to have been chosen as the leading image, and illustrations inside date the piece to 1888. It also comes with fabulous provenance, having passed through two American heiresses, Marie-Louis Mackay and the Countess Mona von Bismarck—the latter a socialite so stylish she had her gardening clothes made by Cristóbal Balenciaga.
Boucheron necklace set with seven cushion-cut rubies, and with old mine-, old European-, and single-cut diamonds.
Estimate: USD1,000,000 to 2,000,000.
Offered by Sotheby’s in New York at A Legacy of Elegance: Jewels from an Exceptional Collection on 8 December 2025.
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At Sotheby's: Napoleon's diamond hat button
Surely you’ve seen news of the Louvre heist this year, in which French crown jewels were brazenly stolen from the world’s most visited museum. The state of those treasures remains a mystery, but a more immediate effect might be a newfound appreciation for Napoleonic jewels from the period. This circular brooch and pendant is one such treasure of the era.
It’s recorded from the moment that the French emperor lost the Battle of Waterloo. Upon his defeat, Napoleon beat a hasty retreat back to Paris, abandoning two coaches full of his personal belongings and treasures that were seized by the Prussians. This jewel, among others, made their way to the treasure room of the Hohenzollern kings of Prussia, and were kept and identified for over two centuries, writes Vincent Meylan, as ‘Emperor Napoleon’s hat button’. Now back on the market, it’s a rare and enchanting piece of history—and a time period that’s very much on people’s minds.
Brooch/pendant set with an oval-cut 13.04-carat diamond, and with old mine- and mazarin-cut diamonds. Circa early 19th century, formerly in the Collection of Emperor Napoleon I and the House of Hohenzollern.
Estimate: CHF120,000 to 200,000.
Offered by Sotheby’s in Geneva at Royal & Noble Jewels on 12 November 2025.
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At Sotheby's: An 1840s natural pearl hair jewel that might be the last of its kind
Top quality antique jewels are a tremendous rarity because of how precious and uncommon these materials were. The practice, from the 18th century and arguably in some ways even today, was to reuse precious gems and remount jewels when they went out of fashion. Before diamonds were discovered in South Africa, India was the world’s sole source; and before culturing pearls was invented, supremely rare natural pearls were the only option.
A combination of these factors make this jewel, created around 1840, rather special. The pearls in these belonged, according to family tradition, to Kunigunde of Saxony, the Marchesa di Montoro who lived from 1774 to 1820. Her descendants used the pearls that originally belonged to her to craft these jewels: a brooch and a hair ornament. The fashion for wearing extravagant jewels as part of a hair style was short-lived, but this piece survived perhaps because it had further possibilities: alterations made it possible to wear as a necklace, it could be taken apart to become a set of hairpins, or pinned as a devant-de-corsage, or stomacher. Nearly two centuries old, it’s said to be perhaps the last known surviving example of the hair ornament jewels popular in the 1840s.
Set of brooch and transformable jewel with saltwater natural pearls and diamonds. Circa 1840 and 1860, property of a European noble family.
Estimate: CHF340,000 to 500,000.
Offered by Sotheby’s in Geneva at Royal & Noble Jewels on 12 November 2025.
