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# The emerald tiara of Katarina Henckel von Donnersmarck, sold in Geneva in 2011
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/izumrudnaia-tiara-s-11-krupnymi-zheltymi-brilliantami-ogranki-kushon-katariny-khenkel-fon-donnersmark-obychno-opisyvaetsia-kak-samaia-roskoshnaia-diadema-prinadlezhavshaia-osobe-ne-koro/
- Published: 2019-08-11T20:28:25.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T19:00:10.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Aristocracy, Art, Mores, Pop Culture

​​[The emerald](https://telegra.ph/file/84c8c93da2dabf4145fc4.jpg?ref=theparnassian.com) tiara with 11 large yellow cushion-cut diamonds belonging to Katharina Henckel von Donnersmarck is usually described as the most sumptuous diadem ever owned by a person not of royal blood. Jewels of this kind are what the newspapers like to gossip about. The story of this gem has everything: mysterious origins, drama, tragedy, persecution, loss and, of course, a love interest.

The diadem is set with 11 Colombian emeralds, which are supposed to have come into the hands of an Indian maharajah in the 15th or 16th century, and in the early 19th century (though there were 25 of them in all) to Bonaparte's nephew Louis Napoleon, who bought them for his wife, [Empress Eugénie](https://theparnassian.com/tufelki-poslednei-imperatritsy-frantsii-evgenii-zakonodatelnitsy-mod-vo-vsei-evrope/?ref=theparnassian.com), who was later obliged to flee to England. In 1872 Eugénie, in dire need, sold 123 lots of jewels at Christie's, among them these 25 emeralds, some of which once again became a wedding present: Prince Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck bought them for his wife.

That same aristocrat, incidentally, had been the husband of the celebrated Muscovite [Esther Lachman](https://t.me/captainpaleo/58?ref=theparnassian.com), famed as the Marquise de Païva. After the death of his beloved Esther, the industrial magnate married a second time, again a Russian woman, Ekaterina Vasilyevna Sleptsova, for whom these 500 carats of emeralds and a hefty handful of diamonds were intended. *True, it is also whispered that the prince had the body of la Païva embalmed and kept somewhere in his house, but that is another story altogether.*

In 2011 the heirs sold the tiara at Sotheby's in Geneva for 11 million Swiss francs. At that time it was the highest price ever paid for a piece of jewellery sold by the auction house, and the tiara is still regarded as the most expensive emerald jewel.

Here and there one finds the claim that the makers of this jewel are unknown, and that the hallmark allows only a guess that they were either Chaumet or Boucheron. However, the fact that it is nonetheless shown at a Chaumet exhibition lends a certain clarity.