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On May 1, 1969, Christie’s held the inaugural Magnificent Jewels in Geneva.” Christie’s Geneva had only opened its doors six months before the sale,” says Max Fawcett, head of jewelery at Christie’s in Geneva.
The sale, which included 108 lots, attracted important collectors from all over Europe, as well as representatives from luxury jewelry brands such as Boucheron, Bulgari, Cartier, Chaumet and Harry Winston.
“I was 21 years old and had finished jewelery school,” recalls François Curiel, president of Christie’s EMEA, who accompanied his father to both the dealer preview and the opening night Magnificent Jewels auction. “It was a very posh event: all the ladies were beautifully dressed and all the men wore dark suits.”
According to Curiel, many of the customers in attendance had traveled to Geneva in hopes of acquiring one of the 45 jewels offered for sale from Nina Dyer’s collection.
Born in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1930, Dyer moved to England to pursue a career in fashion. By the age of 20, she had found success as a model in Paris, working for companies such as Balmain. In June 1954 she married Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, heir to the Thyssen industrial empire.
The couple divorced in 1956 and within a year Dyer had met Prince Aga Khan, the second son of Sultan Mahomed Shah Aga Khan III. Dyer and the prince married in 1957 and Dyer took the name Princess Nina Aga Khan.
During their marriage, the prince showered her with lavish gifts, including luxury sports cars and precious jewels from famous manufacturers such as Cartier, Mappin & Webb and Harry Winston.
“Nina Dyer’s jewelry collection epitomizes elegance, sophistication and good taste,” recalls Curiel, adding that every piece offered for sale was of extremely high quality. “The atmosphere in the salesroom was electric. Bids were coming in from across the room and some lots took more than five minutes to sell due to the sheer number of people bidding on them.”
The combination of its enormous size, even green color and high degree of transparency made it extremely rare.” The fact that it’s mounted on an original Cartier piece is the icing on the cake ,” says Fawcett.
Among the top lots on offer was an emerald and diamond brooch commissioned by Prince Aga Khan from Cartier of Paris in 1960. The centerpiece, a 37-carat square emerald, was bordered by 20 diamonds, weighing a total of approximately 12.04 carats.
On November 12, 2024, the Aga Khan Emerald will be offered at the Magnificent Jewels sale at Christie’s in Geneva for the second time in just over 55 years. “It’s a very exciting time,” says Curiel, who joined the auction house’s jewelry department as an intern shortly after the inaugural sale. “I’m still here today and I’m excited to be able to handle the famous 37-carat Aga Khan Emerald before it’s sold back to Christie’s.”
The jewel was discovered in Muzo, a Colombian emerald mine about 60 miles north of present-day Bogotá. In use for at least five centuries before the Spanish arrived in the New World, Muzo provided some of the most famous stones in history, including the Devonshire – an uncut stone weighing a whopping 1,383.95 carats, named after the 6th Duke of Devonshire, who acquired it from Emperor Dom Pedro I of Brazil around 1831.
“Emeralds have been treasures since ancient times,” says Fawcett, adding that Cleopatra had her own mines in Egypt. Since colonial times, however, Muzo emeralds have been considered the most beautiful and valuable in the world, thanks to their intense green color and high degree of transparency.
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