Christie’s to auction Claudia Cardinale’s Bulgari jewels in Paris

Claudia Cardinale’s jewels are not just auction lots, but portable pieces of Italian screen history, threaded through Bulgari’s Roman glamour and a career that crossed from Tunis to Cannes. Christie’s will offer about twenty jewels chosen, cherished and worn by Cardinale in its online Paris Joaillerie sale, turning a private collection into a rare study of mid-century taste shaped by stardom.

At the top of the sale is a circa-1965 Bulgari Serpenti bracelet watch in enamel and sapphires, estimated at €150,000 to €250,000. The Serpenti line remains one of Bulgari’s sharpest signatures, and this example captures why: the sculpted bracelet, the watch concealed in jewel form, and the mix of color and precious metal that made the house synonymous with Roman modernity. Christie’s has also highlighted a 1966 gold fox brooch by Bulgari, estimated at €7,000 to €10,000, a smaller but telling jewel that speaks to Cardinale’s eye for character and wit.

Three more Bulgari rings deepen the picture of her collection. One ring is set with a 30-carat ruby and carries a presale estimate of €80,000 to €100,000. Another is a Trombino ring with an emerald, estimated at €60,000 to €80,000. The third, a star-sapphire ring, is estimated at €50,000 to €80,000. Together, they suggest a collector drawn to bold color and recognizable forms rather than discreet luxury, a preference that fits the actress’s Roman-era glamour and the clean, emphatic lines Bulgari favored in the 1960s.

Christie’s said the sale is a tribute to one of the great actresses of Italian and international cinema and comes after a tribute to Cardinale at the Cannes Film Festival, 65 years after her first red-carpet appearance there in 1961. That chronology matters. Cardinale’s jewels do not sit apart from her public life; they are part of the same image-making machine that linked her to Luchino Visconti, Federico Fellini, Werner Herzog and Sergio Leone.

A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Fondazione Claudia Cardinale, founded in 2023 by Cardinale and her daughter Claudia Squitieri to support contemporary audiovisual creation, with a focus on women artists. The foundation also centers women’s rights, ecological awareness and intercultural exchange, reflecting Cardinale’s long public role as a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for the Rights of Women and Girls and her work with Green Cross Italy. Christie’s said a Geneva exhibition ran May 7 to 13, and the jewels will be on view in Paris from June 19 to 26, before the sale closes that chapter and sends these pieces back into the market as cultural artifacts as much as ornaments.