A magnificent, historically significant pearl and diamond tiara previously owned by a member of Britain’s de Rothschild empire sold at Christie’s London auction for £1,161,250 (US$1.9 million).

The extravagant piece belonged to Hannah de Rothschild, who was at one time the wealthiest woman in Britain. The granddaughter of Nathan Mayer Rothschild, founder of NM
Rothschild & Sons, the countess earned the title of Britain’s richest woman when
her father, Mayer Amschel, died in 1874. Hannah de Rothschild later went on to marry dashing aristocrat and future prime minister, the Earl of Rosebery.

Three pieces of jewellery owned by the countess of Rosebery were sold for a combined total of £1,738,500 at the ‘Important Jewel Sale’ at Christie’s auction house. The 282 lots raised an astonishing £7,460,725, with a Cartier art deco bracelet alone fetching £1,150,050.

“The Rosebery pearl and diamond tiara, bracelet and brooch were at the heart of Lady Rosebery’s vast array of magnificent jewels, which rivalled those of crowned heads of Europe at the time,” Keith Penton, Head of Jewels at Christie’s London, said. “They are a rare survival of 19th century English aristocratic splendour, as so much ancestral jewellery has been sold anonymously, remounted or broken down.”

A portrait of the Countess of Rosebery, Hannah de Rothschild

A model poses with the Rosebery pearl and diamond tiara, bracelet and brooch at Christie’s auction in London

Christie’s