SWITZERLAND: Diamonds at auction go for millions, fetching double their estimated price

Sotheby's hosted its spring "Magnificent Jewels" auction in Geneva on Thursday (May 17) and sold the two yellow Donnersmarck Diamonds at more than the double estimated prices. The first pear-shaped diamond weighing over 82 carats was sold at 4,666,271 U.S. dollars and the other cushion-shaped diamond, weighing more 102 carats, went for 3,246,102 U.S. dollas to anonymous buyers. The diamonds were part of a special section of the sale devoted to gems from noble families, and come from the European Princely family Henckel von Donnersmarck. Count Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck (1830-1916) was the scion of a noble family from Silesia. After taking over the running of the family business at the age of 18, he settled in Paris and encountered La Paiva, one of the most celebrated courtesans of the Second Empire. Although she was much older than him, he was immediately fascinated by her and married her in 1871. Blanche de Paiva was born Teresa Lachmann in a poor family. She married at age 17, but within three years she had left for Paris on her own, where she became a famous courtesan and grew into the legendary La Paiva. In 1851, she married the Portuguese Marquess de Paiva, gaining respectability and a title. Over the two next decades, she continued entertaining in her Salon many society names including the Emperor himself, politicians, industrialists, financiers, writers and artists, and in 1855, built one of the most famous and extravagant hotels on the Champs Elysees. Her immoderate taste for diamonds was as legendary as her extravagance, and she soon was known to possess one of the most impressive jewel collections in Paris. She would have jewels that rivalled, if not surpassed, those of the Empress. When she married Count Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck, she continued growing her jewel case. She bought the diamonds in 1882 from French jewellers Boucheron, at age 63 although her years as a courtesan had long past, at 000 francs. After La Paiva's death, the Count became Prince and remarried in 1887 with Katarina Henckel von Donnersmarck, to whom he offered his first wife's jewellery collection. Katarina Henckel von Donnersmarck gave the diamonds their name, the Donnersmarck Diamonds.

ITN Source | May 20, 2007

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