Sotheby's

The Jewels of the Duchess of Windsor

Geneva

Thursday 2nd April 1987

Friday 3rd April 1987

With price list

306 lots, profusely illustrated

From the New York Times about the auction in 1987:

"At 9:23 tonight, in a party tent poised somewhere between romance and avarice, an auctioneer hammered out the sale of the first of the costly baubles that were scattered as love tokens across the lives of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

The gold, ruby and sapphire clip went for $47,666, a misleadingly modest beginning to an exhausting night in which the more desired items, like the Duchess's favorite sleek diamond bracelet, in the shape of a panther, drew more than $1 million each.

At the end, three hours later, a ruby and diamond necklace went for $2.6 million, a pair of yellow diamond lapel clips went for $2.27 million and the final item, a 31.26-carat diamond ring, lured bidders up to a final price of $3.15 million, as if they did not want to quit for the night. The ring was bought by Tsuneo Takagi, a Tokyo gem dealer who said his motives were a mix of romance and commerce. That sale put the night's total at $33,507,131, a record for a jewelry sale. The total included the 10 percent buyers' fees added to the hammer prices. Bidders on 2 Continents

The sale of the sumptuous jewels of the Duke and Duchess took place before willing audiences on two continents fortified with personal fortunes. They invested laughter, applause and some exuberant shouts as well, as the jewels were snapped up by bidders in heated competition.

The sale was a postscript to the Windsors' throne-defying passion, and it seemed in keeping with the cafe society display they had made of their marriage.

More than 300 of their bejeweled possessions, from diamonds of all weights and cuts to swords and buttons and sealing wax stamps, were on the block to be taken up by fresh fortune. Ninety-five lots were sold; the remaining pieces are to be auctioned Friday. Sotheby's had estimated the entire sale would bring $7 million.

The night seemed entirely a seller's market as bidders like Marvin Mitchelson, the Los Angeles divorce lawyer who has made his fortune on the failed loves of the rich, persisted in the hunt. Mr. Mitchelson stayed in to buy a diamond bib necklace for $373,996, and announced that he dedicated the achievement to his mother.

Elizabeth Taylor phoned in from poolside at her Los Angeles home to buy a diamond clip in the shape of the plumes and crown of the Prince of Wales. It cost her $623,327, and she said it was worth it because of the friendship with the Windsors that she had shared with Richard Burton.

The sale in the lakefront tent set up at the Hotel Beau-Rivage here by Sotheby's auction house was attended by a thousand invited bidders, with a thousand more competitors participating in New York via satellite television and open checkbook.

''All done New York?'' the auctioneer, Nicholas Rayner, took care to ask as each bidding contest peaked. Then he pronounced ''Adjuge!'' signifying that the piece had been sold.

The most active and successful bidder in New York was Alexander Acevedo, a Madison Avenue dealer in American art who bought 10 pieces for a total of about $2.7 million. He bought the ruby and sapphire clip that was the first offering in the sale, as well as a natural pearl necklace, at $733,326 the most expensive ever sold. Afterward Mr. Acevedo said he had already resold the necklace in the salesroom during the auction ''at a profit.''

After months of buildup for the sale, the auctioneers intended to deny the television cameras the right to show the faces of the bidders in action, as if something intimate were occurring. But pandering to prurient interest soon seemed a reasonable policy once such shimmering behemoths as a 206-carat sapphire pendant were brought forth. The pendant went for $373,996 as everyone craned and stared - while the cameras recorded them - at the glittering residue of the oft-told love affair of Wallis Warfield Simpson and her King.

The sale proceeds are to go to the Pasteur Institute in Paris, the medical research center, at the request of the Duchess, who died last year.

With no throne to offer his beloved Wallis once he had to abdicate as King Edward VIII, the Duke was profligate with elaborate gifts of jewelry intimately inscribed with such still-mysterious baby-talk fondnesses as ''eanum pig.''

''A boy loves a girl more and more and more,'' the King wrote to Mrs. Simpson in 1936 before her divorce and his abdication, when he sent her a dazzling ruby and diamond bracelet. ''Hold Tight,'' he inscribed on the clasp. Tonight it sold for $486,000.

Intimate details more arcane than risque were inscribed on many of the pieces. ''God Save the King for Wallis,'' the King playfully inscribed on one of the charms on a diamond bracelet. He referred to an incident when, as King, he was accosted - but not harmed - by a journalist wielding a gun.

''Our Reunion in Conde,'' he inscribed on a platinum, ruby and sapphire ring, recalling the scandal when their love became public knowledge and they separated while divorce and abdication were being planned.

''We are ours now,'' he eventually inscribed on a stunning 19-carat emerald and diamond ring commemorating their secret engagement in 1936. It went for $1.98 million.

Their travels as not-so-secret lovers in the mid-1930's were mapped on a gold Cartier cigarette case set with gems that marked the stops on their languid yacht trips about the Mediterranean.

Among the records set in tonight's bidding were one for a lot of yellow diamonds, $2,273,311 for 91 lapel clips, and one for a ruby necklace, $2,603,308.

More interesting than some of the jewels were the historical footnotes assembled in the Sotheby's catalogue to give a sense of context to the possessions.

''Mrs. Simpson was literally smothered in rubies, and looking very well, as she has been on a fish diet for four days,'' the Windsors' friend, Sir Henry (Chips) Channon, wrote in his diary 51 years ago. He described himself as ''riveted by lust, furniture, glamour, and society and jewels.''

It was impossible to discern whether such Epicurean gloss helped inflate the bidding. But it complemented the scene, with the tent set up around some of the city's thick topiary shrubs, in which birds twittered and some guests wondered whether the birds had been imported for the gala. They were not; they live there.

The collection up for sale has been termed ''the alternative Crown jewels,'' and while a crown was lacking, the bidders bought like nouveau riche commoners, cheering at the end when the 31-carat ring finally was hammered off to a new owner.

''Adjuge!'' shouted Mr. Rayner in good night, and half of the Duchess's jewels were gone."