Following the theft of her Sapphire Parure from the Louvre last year, a pair of Mellerio Pearl Earrings which Queen Marie-Amélie of The French inherited from her mother, Queen Maria Carolina of Naples, and were worn for decades by the late Countess of Paris are on sale for $8 million at M.S. Rau of New Orleans!
Dating from around 1890, each earring centers a perfectly matched natural saltwater drop pearl of remarkable proportions: measuring 10.95 x 11.05 x 14.80mm and 10.85 x 10.90 x 14.90mm, respectively, set in a Diamond Frame created by Mellerio dits Meller in the later nineteenth-century.
The earrings were originally crafted in the classic court style. They were later enhanced with surrounds of old-cut diamonds by Mellerio dits Meller, the official jeweler to the French Crown, adapting them to nineteenth-century court standards while preserving their royal drop form.
These natural Pearl Earrings were first owned by Queen Maria Carolina of the Two Sicilies, the sister of Queen Marie Antoinette, who gave them to her daughter, the then Duchess of Orléans and later Queen Marie-Amélie of the French, who was depicted wearing the Pearls Earrings by François Gérard in a painting in 1817.
Queen Amélie was born into the convergence of Europe’s greatest dynasties—the daughter of Marie Caroline of Austria, who was the beloved sister of Marie Antoinette. Through the Bourbon and Habsburg houses, Amélie inherited the ceremonial magnificence of the ancien régime, complete with jewels sourced from the world’s finest mines and refined by the world’s most esteemed ateliers. These earrings descended through the Bourbon-Orléans line and survived as one of the few jewels to escape the dispersal of the most significant royal jewelry collection ever assembled. At the time of their creation, these extraordinary pearls were far more valuable than diamonds.
The Pearl Earrings were among the seven parures in Queen Marie-Amélie’s famed collection, which included the Orléans Sapphire Parure and a Diamond Parure. Almost two decades later, Queen Marie-Amélie was depicted wearing the Pearl Earrings with her youngest sons, the Dukes of Montpensier and Aumale, by Louis Hersent at Versailles in 1835.
Marie-Amélie has a significant diamond parure, a pearl parure, a very important sapphire parure, a garnet and diamond parure, an amethyst and diamond parure, and a turquoise and diamond parure. She has every possible and unimaginable jewel,”
At some point, the Pearl Earrings were reset into the current Diamond Frame by the famed Mellerio dits Meller.
“François Mellerio was a close acquaintance of the Orléans family. He would go to the Royal Palace every day around three o’clock in the afternoon to be at Marie-Amélie’s beck and call,” explains Laure-Isabelle Mellerio, artistic director of the Mellerio jewelry house. Whether for personal jewelry or official gifts, she spent the considerable sum of over 500,000 gold francs at Mellerio during her lifetime.
Following the Abolition of the French Monarchy in 1848, Queen Marie-Amélie retained her personal jewels and left these Pearl Earrings to her son, the Prince of Joinville, who in turn left them to his only daughter, Princess Françoise, Duchess of Chartres, who left an important lot of jewels from her personal collection directly to her grandson, Prince Henri, the future Head of the House of Orléans.
Princess Isabelle of Orléans-Braganza wore Queen Marie-Amélie’s Mellerio Pearl Earrings with her new Diamond Bracelet Bandeau on the day of her Wedding to Prince Henri d’Orléans, Count of Paris at the Cathedral of Palermo in 1931.
The Countess of Paris wore the Mellerio Pearl Earrings with the Orléans Sapphire and Pearl Tiara for the Wedding Gala of Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia and Princess Maria Pia of Savoy at the Palace Hotel of Estoril in 1955.
From the 1950s, the Countess of Paris was frequently pictured wearing Queen Marie-Amélie’s Mellerio Pearl Earrings with her multiple strands of pearls at numerous society occasions throughout Europe.
Queen Marie-Amélie’s Mellerio Pearl Earrings were notably worn by the Countess of Paris for several family weddings, among them the Wedding of Prince Henri, Count of Clermont and Duchess Marie-Thérèse of Württemberg in 1957, the Wedding of Princess Hélène d’Orléans and Count Evrard de Limburg Stirum in 1957, the Wedding of Duke Carl of Württemberg and Princess Diane of Orléans in 1960, the Wedding of Princess Isabelle of Orléans and Count Friedrich Karl von Schönborn-Buchheim in 1964, the Wedding of Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta and Princess Claude of Orléans in 1964, the Wedding of Prince Michael of Greece in 1965, and the Wedding of Prince Jacques, Duke of Orléans in 1969.
In 1965, the Queen Marie-Amélie’s Mellerio Pearl Earrings were worn by Princess Anne d’Orléans with the Orléans Diamond Comb when she married Prince Carlos of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Duke of Calabria.
The Countess of Paris continued to wear the Mellerio Pearl Earrings over the next several decades, with appearances at the Wedding of Prince Gundakar of Liechtenstein and Princess Marie d’Orléans in 1989, the Wedding of her grandson, Count Thierry de Limburg Stirum, and Katia della Faille de Leverghem in 1995 and the Wedding of Prince Eudes, Duke of Angouleme in 1999 as well as an official portrait with the Action Française Tiara among others.
Following the Countess’ death in 2003, Queen Marie-Amélie’s Mellerio Pearl Earrings were inherited by her grandson, Prince Robert d’Orléans, Count of La Marche who sold them into a private collection in Switzerland, from where they have been acquired by M.S. Rau of New Orleans.
Queen Marie-Amélie’s Mellerio Pearl Earrings are accompanied by a letter from the current Count of Paris, dated from 2023.
Dear Madame,
I thank you for your message, which touched me deeply.The memory of my grandmother has always remained very vivid for me and for my family.
Seeing her portrait again in the photographs you sent me—particularly those in which she appears wearing her preferred earrings, notably in Palermo at the time of her wedding or even on the front page of certain newspapers—moved me greatly. They were always part of her attire for important family and public occasions.
Thank you for this brief return to a past that is emotional, historic and deeply familial.
Yours sincerely,
With my warmest regards,
Jean, Count of Paris
The Mellerio Pearl Earrings are one of the few surviving jewels remaining of Queen Marie-Amélie, especially after the theft of her magnificent Sapphire Parure from the the Galerie d’Apollon of the Musée du Louvre last year, and the sale of her Diamond Parure by the Bulgarian Royal Family.
This extraordinary pair of natural pearl and diamond earrings, circa 1790, belonged to Queen Amélie, the last Queen of France. They represent the only known opportunity to acquire authentic French Crown Jewels, preserved in exceptional condition with uninterrupted royal descent and comprehensive documentation.
