Just over six decades ago, Viscountess Nancy Astor passed away, leaving a glittering jewellery legacy. Once among the most famous women in the world, the American heiress – who moved to Britain and married the American-born English businessman Waldorf Astor in 1906 – amassed a near-legendary jewellery collection during her lifetime, including several important tiaras.
One of these, a super rare diadem which has never appeared at auction before, has just sold for three times its pre-sale estimate at Bonhams in London.
Having been passed down to a descendant of the Viscountess, the Astor turquoise and diamond tiara has just sold at Bonhams’ London Jewels Sale on June 5 for £889,400 (over $1.2 million).
The exceptional diadem was originally created by Cartier and is recorded in its 1929 archives, when the maker instructed English Art Works (the name of Cartier’s London workshop, formed by Jacques Cartier in the 1920s) to add a selection of carved turquoise ‘plumes’ and ‘leaves’ to an existing diamond bandeau. Once completed, the piece was listed in Cartier’s records in November 1930 and sold a month later (a Christmas tiara?) to Viscount Astor for his wife.
In 1931, Lady Astor was photographed wearing her new turquoise tiara to the premiere of ‘City Lights’ at London’s Dominion theatre. She later loaned the same tiara to her closest sister, Phyllis, for a court presentation at Buckingham Palace. This prompted Phyllis’ husband, the Hon. Robert Henry Brand (a one-time Oxford scholar, economic expert, and intellectual, colloquially known since he was a young civil servant as “The Wisest Man in the Empire”) to commission Cartier to make a similar turquoise and diamond tiara for her in 1935. This ‘sister tiara’ can currently be seen at the V&A Museum’s landmark Cartier exhibition.
Set throughout with old brilliant, single and rose-cut diamonds, the Cartier Astor turquoise tiara features a principal brilliant-cut diamond at its centre, with three fluted turquoise plumes adorned with more brilliant and single-cut diamond stems. Each side of the piece boasts a radiating fan-shaped panel, also crafted from turquoise.
“Cartier has long been recognised as the name behind some of the world’s most important jewels and the Astor turquoise and diamond tiara dates to a period when Cartier London were at the height of their creative prowess,” says Jean Ghika, Bonhams global head of jewellery, adding that the piece will undoubtedly be “the star” of the house’s upcoming London Jewels Sale. “Cartier were later commissioned to produce a similar tiara for Nancy’s sister. However, the design of Nancy Astor’s tiara is truly unique. The distinctive plumes, leaves and scrolls carved in turquoise were drawn from Egyptian, Indian and Persian motifs, which were extensively explored by Cartier throughout the early 20th century. The firm’s Eastern inspired jewels became hugely fashionable as a result.”
Ghika goes on to note that “the tiara hasn’t been seen on the market since Lord Astor purchased it from Cartier in 1930. With impeccable provenance and a compelling marriage of Western and Eastern influences in the design, the tiara is exceptionally rare, and we feel honoured to have the opportunity to present it for sale for the first time in nearly a century.”
Indeed, interest in the jewel was sky high, given the colourful and eventful life that Viscountess Astor led. Alongside being a famous socialite and popular hostess, she became the first woman to take her seat in Parliament, serving from 1919 to 1945, and was an advocate for women’s rights and for the fair treatment of juvenile victims of crime. “The saleroom saw bids from across the globe to achieve a strong result for the exceptional tiara with a hammer price over three times its pre-sale estimate,” notes Ghika.
Astor was also renowned for her wit and humour. Winston Churchill is said to have told Lady Astor that having a woman in Parliament was like having one intrude on him in the bathroom, to which she famously retorted, “Sir, you’re not handsome enough to have such fears.”
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