Bonhams Paris Brings 182 Lots of Antique and Signed Jewels to Auction
A 19th-century emerald necklace traced to a Greek princess anchors Bonhams Paris's 182-lot Fine Jewellery sale on March 19.
Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr brings 182 lots of antique and signed jewels to Avenue Hoche on March 19, 2026, in a live sale that stretches from Victorian-era openwork necklaces with royal provenance to a circa-1980 Bulgari bracelet set with tourmalines and citrine cabochons. The range is genuinely impressive: old brilliant-cut diamonds sit alongside Colombian emeralds of extraordinary size, and signed pieces from Cartier, Boucheron, Chaumet, Graff, Tiffany & Co., Van Cleef & Arpels, Buccellati, and Bulgari appear throughout the catalogue.
Leading the sale is a diamond necklace designed as a series of articulating links set with old brilliant-cut diamonds, estimated at €60,000 to €70,000. The use of old brilliants, with their deeper crowns and smaller tables than modern cuts, gives the piece a warmth and period authenticity that well-cut modern stones cannot replicate. Close behind it is a sapphire and diamond ring featuring an oval-cut sapphire of Sri Lankan origin weighing 25.56 carats, set within a brilliant-cut surround and estimated at €25,000 to €35,000. A stone of that size from Ceylon, as collectors still tend to call it, commands serious attention; Sri Lankan sapphires of this weight with strong provenance rarely surface outside major international sales.
Emeralds constitute one of the sale's most cohesive strengths. The most historically charged piece is an emerald and diamond necklace dating from the end of the 19th century, originating from a Greek princess. Its openwork mount is decorated with foliate scrolling motifs set with rose and old brilliant-cut diamonds and highlighted by step-cut emeralds, with emerald and old brilliant-cut diamond drops suspended below. The estimate, €15,000 to €20,000, reflects the jewel's modest scale rather than any lack of pedigree. A separate emerald and diamond ring presents a rectangular-shaped Colombian emerald of 16.82 carats within a brilliant-cut diamond surround, estimated at €18,000 to €22,000, while a Bulgari emerald and diamond ring features a step-cut Colombian stone of 3.41 carats set within a brilliant and baguette-cut diamond surround at the same €15,000 to €20,000 estimate.
Among the signed pieces, a Bulgari coloured gemstones sprung bracelet from circa 1980 stands out for its exuberant palette. Designed as a yellow gold fluted motif and set with pink and green tourmalines, amethysts, blue topaz, and citrine cabochons, it captures the house's signature polychrome sensibility at an estimate of €12,000 to €18,000. A Chaumet sapphire bracelet, its articulating drop-shaped plaques each set with an oval-cut sapphire, is estimated more accessibly at €5,000 to €7,000 and represents the kind of quietly authoritative French maison work that tends to hold its value with collectors.
"The forthcoming Fine Jewellery Paris sale offers a remarkable selection of jewels, many sourced from private collections," said Marine Girardet, Bonhams Head of Jewellery, France. That private-collection sourcing matters: it signals fresh-to-market pieces rather than recycled auction inventory, a distinction that serious buyers note carefully.
The sale takes place March 19 at Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr's Paris rooms on Avenue Hoche.
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