GENEVA.- Christie’s announces the sale of five exceptional jewels from the Sassoon Family on 12 November 2024 in Geneva.

Nowadays it is very rare to encounter a group of family jewels purchased during the 1920s and 1930s to have remained in the same family since originally acquired. Many jewels from the early 20th century containing large diamonds and fine gemstones have been dispersed, sold or remodeled.

These superb jewels were originally acquired by the current owner’s great-grandparents who were well known for their passion for fine sapphires, emeralds, rubies and diamonds and family history relates that they would regularly visit Cartier on Bond Street to discuss the mounting of their gems.

The highlight of the collection is a magnificent Cartier Art Deco Indo-Persian Diamond Necklace which ranks amongst the most important surviving Cartier diamond jewels of the early 20th century and the nature of the design illustrates the fusion of the East and West, fashionable at the time, and highly pertinent to the Sassoon’s.

The necklace contains an array of large antique cushion-cut diamonds with an approximate total diamond weight of 130 to 140 carats and it is extraordinary that they have remained in their original settings where other comparable diamond necklaces of this period have not. The necklace will be offered for the first time ever with an estimate of CHF 900,000-1,300,000/ US$1,000,000-1,500,000.

These jewels very nearly didn’t survive into the 21st century as the bank where they were stored was completely destroyed during the Second World War. When the owner wanted to collect her belongings, she found the bank in ruins and it was a helpful policeman who advised her to check with the local police station where it transpired that her deposit box had been transferred to and to her great relief she was reunited with her jewels.

Cartier cemented its reputation in the 1920s-30s as the purveyor of luxury, which attracted clients that included maharajas, European royalty, industrialists, American millionaires and the most influential and fashionable figures of the day. Cartier was at the forefront of the changes in jewellery design and their jewels expressed a sense of new creativity: the Art Deco Diamond Necklace in particular encapsulates the Cartier London branch’s association with India and the East.

The Sassoon’s modern history begins in the 1830s when David Sassoon (1792-1864) left Baghdad where for generations the family had been successful traders and treasurers to the Ottoman pashas, to settle in Mumbai from where he traded in a wide range of commodities, and by the mid-19th century with the help of his eight sons, expanded the family business to Kolkata, Karachi, China, Japan, Myanmar and Malaysia, forming one of the first international conglomerates.

One of his sons, Sassoon David Sassoon (1832-1867) was the first member of the family to settle in London. The family established themselves as one of the most prominent social, cultural and political forces in Britain and Europe.