**Napoleon’s Diamond Brooch Sells for Over $4 Million at Geneva Auction**
GENEVA (AP) — A diamond brooch that French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte lost while fleeing the Battle of Waterloo in the early 19th century sold for more than 3.5 million Swiss francs (about $4.4 million) at a Geneva auction on Wednesday, Sotheby’s announced.
The brooch, which can also be worn as a pendant, features an oval diamond weighing over 13 carats, surrounded by smaller cut diamonds. The final sale price vastly exceeded the pre-sale estimate, which had capped at 200,000 francs. The hammer price alone reached 2.85 million francs, excluding fees and additional charges that contributed to the final total.
According to Sotheby’s, the circular jewel was discovered among Napoleon’s personal belongings inside carriages that became stuck on muddy roads during his retreat from the Duke of Wellington’s British forces and the Prussian army led by Field Marshal von Blücher.
For more than two centuries, these jewels were part of the heirlooms of the Prussian Royal House of Hohenzollern. Sotheby’s did not reveal the identity of the seller and stated that the buyer was a “private collector.”
Among the dozens of lots auctioned was a green beryl weighing over 132 carats, said to have been worn by Napoleon at his 1804 coronation. This piece sold for a hammer price of 838,000 francs—more than 17 times the high-end pre-sale estimate.
The sale attracted particular attention following the high-profile robbery of Napoleonic jewels from the Louvre museum in Paris last month. Tobias Kormind, managing director of online jeweler 77 Diamonds, commented on the auction’s significance:
“Given the recent Louvre heist and the provenance of arguably the most famous French figure in history, I’m not surprised the jewel achieved a majestic 3.5 million francs. The brooch arrives at a moment of renewed global fascination with Napoleonic jewels, and its story is irresistible.”
Later on Wednesday, Sotheby’s hosted a “high jewelry” auction featuring a 10-carat pink diamond, tentatively known as the “Glowing Rose.” The rare stone, unearthed from Angola’s Lulo mine, is expected to fetch about $20 million.
https://www.bostonherald.com/2025/11/12/napoleon-diamond-brooch-auction/
