Featured in the gem gallery of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. are two iconic and historic pieces of jewellery: the Marie Louise Diadem and the Napoleon Diamond Necklace. The latter, the Napoleon Diamond Necklace, is one of the most spectacular jewels of the 19th century. A simple and elegant diamond river made of silver wire and gold settings, the necklace contains 234 diamonds—totalling approximately 263 carats, with the largest diamond weighing approximately 10.4 carats.
The Napoleon Diamond Necklace
A necklace of variety
The Napoleon Diamond Necklace comprises 28 old mine-cut diamonds set in a single silver strand, with a fringe of alternating cuts: Old mine and rose-cut, round and pear shape, pendeloque and briolette. Each of the 10 briolettes is set with 12 rose-cut diamonds. Above each pear shape diamond is a small brilliant, while the four ovals are attached to motifs decorated with 23 smaller diamonds. Originating from Brazil and India, the diamonds are colourless to near colourless.
The gems in the Napoleon Diamond Necklace have never been removed from their settings and, therefore, never professionally graded by a gemmologist. However, FTIR spectroscopic analysis of the 52 large diamonds (around 2.5-10.4 carats) indicates 39 are type Ia—nitrogen impurity in the structure. The remaining 13 are of the rare type IIa—no impurity in the structure.
The Napoleon Diamond Necklace on display under (1) visible light (2) UV lights. GIA
Details of the Napoleon Diamond Necklace. GIA
An extravagant display
In 1810, French Emperor Napoleon I (also known as Napoléon Bonaparte) divorced his first wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais, alleging she was unable to give him an heir. Two months later, he married Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria. In 1811, the two had a son, Napoleon II.
Napoleon I commissioned two sets of jewellery to celebrate the birth of their son, the Marie Louise Diadem and a diamond rivière from Parisian jeweller Marie-Étienne Nitot, founder of Chaumet. As the emperor’s official jeweller and goldsmith, Napoleon had commissioned Nitot to create several other pieces in the past, including his papal tiara, his coronation crown, his ceremonial sword, and his first wife’s wedding jewellery.
At the time, modern diamond sources such as South Africa and Siberia had not yet been exploited, diamond sources in India were drying up, and new discoveries in Brazil were disappointing (fewer diamonds, often small and yellowish). The excessive use of diamonds in this necklace was a deliberate display of extravagance on Napoleon's part. To underline this, he had it appraised by Viennese jeweller Ernst Paltscho, who quoted it at 376,275 Francs. This sum was equivalent to the entire annual budget devoted to Empress Marie Louise's toilette.
After Napoleon’s fall at the Battle of Waterloo and her exile to the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Marie Louise returned to her family in Vienna, Austria, in 1815—taking all her jewellery with her, including the Napoleon Diamond Necklace. She continued to wear the necklace on public occasions until her death in 1847.
Marie Louise of Austria, duchess of Parma and Piacenza by Giovanni Battista Callegari, 1835 (Museo Glauco Lombardi, Parma)
An inherited treasure
After Marie Louise's death in 1847, the necklace was given to Princess Sophie of Bavaria, wife of Marie Louise’s brother Archduke Franz Karl of Austria. At Sophie’s request, two diamonds were removed—shortening the necklace—and set into earrings (the current location of these earrings is unknown).
In 1872, the necklace was bequeathed jointly to her three sons, Archdukes Karl Ludwig and Ludwig Viktor, and Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria. Karl Ludwig bought the necklace from his brothers and, upon his death in 1896, bequeathed it to his third wife, Infanta Maria Theresa of Portugal. She wore it to many official events, including the coronation of Tsar Alexander III of Russia in 1883—where it proved to be so popular that the Tsar requested it be displayed under supervision to the guests for several hours each day for the following week.
(1) Maria Teresa of Portugal, archduchess of Austria
(2) The Napoleon Diamond Necklace, GIA
Fraud
At the start of the Great Depression in 1929, Maria Theresa sought to sell the Napoleon Diamond Necklace and other inherited jewels to strengthen the family’s finances. After several unsuccessful attempts to sell it through agents—first to Fuad I of Egypt, then to a private collector in the Netherlands—she finally hired a couple to sell the necklace on commission in the United States for US$450,000. The couple were presented to Maria Theresa as “Colonel Townsend” of the British Secret Service and “Princess Gervez Baronti,” the supposed daughter of a Prince Baronti of Italy.
Unbeknownst to Maria Theresa, the duo had enlisted her impoverished nephew Archduke Leopold Maria of Austria, Prince of Tuscany to vouch for them in return for a commission of the sale. However, the swindling duo soon realized that economic conditions made it almost impossible to meet the asking price. They then asked Leopold to authenticate the necklace to potential buyers and lend credibility to a falsified story: The necklace was being offered at a bargain price of US$100,000 because Maria Theresa was in desperate need of money.
The duo negotiated the sale of the necklace, first to New York jeweller Harry Winston, then to a Harry Berenson of Boston, but finally sold it to New York diamond dealer David Michel for US$60,000. Of this sum, they kept US$53,730 to cover their “expenses connected with the sale”—including the US$20,000 they paid Leopold—and sent the remaining US$7,270 of the promised US$450,000 to Maria-Theresa.
Recovery
Prior to the sale, however, Maria Theresa had revoked the duo’s authorization to sell the necklace and sent an emissary to New York to recover the diamonds. After the sale, she sought the help of her friend Anna Eisenmenger to recover her property. Eisenmenger contacted the buyer, who agreed to return the necklace for US$50,000, suffering a personal loss of US$10,000.
Maria Theresa then took the case to court in the United States, which eventually led to the recovery of the necklace, Leopold’s imprisonment on charges of complicity and grand larceny, and charges of robbery against Townsend and Baronti. On March 1, 1930, the New York Times reported the scandal along with initial reports that Townsend and Baronti had removed several diamonds from the necklace to sell them separately. These reports proved to be false, but the duo fled the country and were never arrested.
A jewel on display
After this incident, the necklace remained in the Habsburg family until 1948, when Maria Theresa’s grandson, Prince François-Joseph of Liechtenstein, sold it to French industrialist and patron of the arts Paul-Louis Weiller, who in turn sold it to Harry Winston in 1960. The latter considered the historical value of the piece made it more valuable than if the diamonds had been removed and resold individually, as was common practice at the time. As such, he allowed the necklace to remain intact. That same year, Marjorie Merriweather Post bought the necklace, in its original case in Empress Marie Louise’s official colours, green and gold, and bearing her initials and donated it to the Smithsonian Institution in 1962.
(1) The Napoleon Diamond Necklace on display in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., USA
(2) Original case for the Napoleon Necklace (21.8 cm in diameter), made in Paris by Gruel. It is also part of the Smithsonian National Gem Collection. Photos by Kenneth Larsen.
By Lucille Daver for Jewellery Business magazine :
Références
Bratter H. (1971) The Napoléon Necklace. The Log of the Circumnavigators Club, Vol. 1, pp. 5–16.
Durand, S. C. (1886). Napoleon and Marie-Louise, 1810-1814: A Memoir. S. Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington.
Gaillou, E., & Post, J. E. (2007). AN EXAMINATION OF THE NAPOLEON DIAMOND NECKLACE. Gems & Gemology, 43(4).
Nicolet C.C. (1930) $400,000 necklace found; Crain to quiz Archduke. New York Telegram, March 1st.
Paltscho E. (1811) Détails des pierres au collier diamants. National Archives of the French State, file # 024I.
"Recent Research on the Napoléon Diamond Necklace", National Museum of Natural History. Retrieved October 19, 2008.
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