LONDON — Nancy Astor’s turquoise and diamond Cartier tiara outstripped expectations, selling for 889,400 pounds, three times the asking price, at Bonhams London Jewels sale this week.
The bandeau tiara, with its carved turquoise plumes, leaves and scrolls, is a rare piece and was on the market for the first time since Nancy’s husband Lord Astor purchased it from Cartier in 1930. It had been put up for sale by one of Nancy Astor’s heirs.
It had a pre-sale estimate of 250,000 pounds to 350,000 pounds, and was the top seller in an auction that featured more than 100 designs by Boucheron, Bulgari, Buccellati, Cartier, Chaumet, Grima, Mauboussin, Tiffany & Co., and Van Cleef & Arpels.
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Jean Ghika, Bonhams’ global head of jewelry, said the tiara was “the star of the sale” and dates to a period when Cartier London “was at the height of its creative prowess.”
Ghika added that the tiara, which is set throughout with old brilliant, single, and rose-cut diamonds and incorporates Egyptian, Indian and Persian motifs, fielded bids from across the globe during the sale on Thursday.
Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor, was born Nancy Witcher Langhorne in Danville, Va. After marrying her second husband, Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor, she settled in the U.K.
She later became the first woman to take her seat in Parliament, serving from 1919 to 1945 and advocating for temperance, welfare, education reform and women’s rights.
According to Bonhams, the tiara was first recorded in the Cartier archives in 1929 when Cartier instructed English Art Works to add the carved turquoise plumes and leaves to an existing diamond bandeau in 1930.
The completed tiara is listed in Cartier’s records in November 1930 and a month later it was sold to Viscount Astor. In 1931, Astor wore the tiara to the premiere of “City Lights” at the Dominion Theatre in London, and at one point loaned it to her sister Phyllis Langhorne Brand for a court presentation at Buckingham Palace.
Inspired by the Cartier design, Nancy’s brother-in-law, Robert Henry Brand, commissioned Cartier to produce a similar turquoise and diamond tiara in 1935. That second tiara is currently on display at the V&A museum’s Cartier exhibition.