A Cartier tiara owned by Lady Nancy Astor has been auctioned for £889,400 after being listed with a £350,000 high estimate.
The tiara is carved from turquoise – a rare mineral probably named for its Ottoman Empire entry point into Europe – and studded with old brilliant, single, and rose-cut diamonds.
The tiara was sold at Bonhams London, the jewel’s first auction sale, last Thursday, June 5. It was expected to realise £250,000 to £350,000.
Cartier added elements inspired by Indian, Persian and Egyptian culture to an existing piece. The style was to be influential and popular, and, in this case, highly valuable. Image courtesy of Bonhams.
Auctioneer, Jennifer Tonkin, described a high-tension sale. She said: “We were on tenterhooks in the sale room, it just kept going and going, it was wonderful, truly wonderful.”
Made around 1930 by Cartier, the jeweller and luxury goods company founded by Louis-Francois Cartier in Paris in 1847, the tiara was bought from the makers by Lord Waldorf Astor who gave it to his wife, Nancy.
Nancy Astor was born in Virginia, America but moved to England in 1905, meeting the American-born Waldorf Astor on the voyage over and marrying him in 1906.
A painted interpretation of Lady Astor’s first appearance in the House of Commons. She won five elections in her Plymouth seat before standing down in 1945.
Lady Astor became the first woman to take a seat in the House of Commons when she was elected to her husband’s former seat, Plymouth Sutton, as he became a peer in 1919. (Constance Markievicz had been elected in 1918, but refused to take her seat as an Irish Republican, and would have been barred as she was imprisoned for her role in the 1916 Easter Rising.)
While she campaigned for improved nursery education, for better access to jobs, public life and political rights for women, and particularly against alcohol, she was notorious for her antisemitic and anti-Catholic views.
The Astor family’s country house at Cliveden was a noted centre for political and social mingling.
Nancy wore the tiara to the premiere of the Charlie Chaplin film City Lights at the Dominion Theatre in February 1931, and later by her sister to a presentation at Buckingham Palace.
It has never been sold at auction before, and Bonhams say the seller inherited the piece.
Before the sale, Jean Ghika, Bonhams’ Global Head of Jewellery, said: “London Jewels features an impressive selection of jewellery, but undoubtedly, the star of the sale is the Astor turquoise and diamond tiara by Cartier, formerly in the collection of Nancy, Viscountess Astor.
“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.”
Cartier jewellery, bags and watches are extremely popular with collectors and can be exceptionally valuable.
This necklace, in sapphire and diamond, made $2.8 million in 2023. Image courtesy of Sotheby’s.
Great pieces often make millions.
In 2020 a Cartier Tutti Frutti (a signature style) bracelet from 1930 made just over £1 million to set a record for a single-lot online sale. In 2023, a 1950 Cartier sapphire and diamond necklace realised $2.8 million at auction.
This item, with its starry history now joins the Cartier saleroom roll of honour.
