Excellent preservation and important historical provenance paid off! The diadem set with 15 Oriental pearls and 25 ct. diamonds and the equally magnificent corsage brooch from the House of Habsburg were auctioned on 27 November 2019 at the Dorotheum's Jewellery auction for 442,500 and 161,900 Euros respectively, well above their estimates.
The jewels, sought after by numerous room and telephone bidders, came from the possession of Archduchess Marie Valerie, the fourth and last child of Empress Elisabeth and Emperor Franz Joseph.
When Archduchess Marie Valerie married Archduke Franz Salvator of Austria-Tuscany in 1890, the jeweller A. E. Köchert was already a third-generation Purveyor to the Royal and Imperial Court and Chamber. He executed the corsage brooch in around 1890. Wilhelm Friedrich Haarstrick, who worked for the company until 1891 as an authorised representative and workshop manager, designed the diadem.
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