Grand Duchess Vladimir’s Sapphire Brooch

Today marks the anniversary of the Death of Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna, Princess Nicholas of Greece, who passed away on this day in 1957! The only daughter of the legendary Grand Duchess Vladimir who married a Greek Prince and became the mother of Princess Paul of Yugoslavia, Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, and Princess Elisabeth, Countess of Törring-Jettenbach, Grand Duchess Elena possessed many spectacular jewels, including Grand Duchess Vladimir’s Sapphire Brooch!

A brooch of plaque design, set at the centre with an oval sapphire weighing 26.80 carats, the border set with cushion-shaped and rose diamonds, maker’s marks for Sophia Schwan, probably for Bolin, St Petersburg, 1899-1908 and Russian assay marks, the pair of ear clips en suite, set with step-cut sapphires, to a later fitted case by Cartier stamped with the crown of the Royal House of Greece.

When Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin married Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia, the third son of Tsar Alexander II of Russia, in 1874, she received numerous spectacular jewels including her Vladimir Tiara, Diamond Fringe Tiara, Diamond Rivière, Emerald Necklace and several sapphire jewels which reportedly originated from Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, but these Sapphire Jewels were acquired before she commissioned the Vladimir Cartier Sapphire Kokoshnik Tiara and a Sapphire and Diamond Devant-de-Corsage.

When she fled St. Petersburg following the February Revolution in 1917, the Jewels of the Grand Duchess Vladimir remained in a hidden safe in her bedroom at the Vladimir Palace, until her son, Grand Duke Boris, and a friend, Bertie Stopford, snuck into the Vladimir Palace disguised as workmen, smuggling the Jewels out in a pair of Gladstone Bags, which were then smuggled out of Russia, deposited in a safety deposit box in London. An inventory taken by Garrard in early 1920 revealed that the Vladimir Tiara was damaged during its journey, with some of the pearls and diamonds missing. The Grand Duchess Vladimir was the last Romanov to escape Russia, and passed away just a few months later, in September 1920.

Grand Duchess Vladimir left her jewels to her children in groups of stones, with Grand Duke Kyril receiving the Sapphires, Grand Duke Boris the Emeralds, Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna, Princess Nicholas of Greece, the only daughter, inherited her mother’s diamonds and pearls, including the Vladimir Tiara, while Grand Duke Andrei inherited the Rubies.

However, these Sapphires were among the jewels inherited by her only daughter, the Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna, Princess Nicholas of Greece, who had them cased by Cartier and notably wore the Sapphire and Diamond Brooch as a Pendant along with the Ear Clips at the Wedding of Prince Paul of Yugoslavia and her daughter, Princess Olga of Greece, in Belgrade in 1923.

Several years later, Grand Duchess Vladimir’s Sapphire and Diamond Brooch had been passed along to the aforementioned, Princess Olga, who notably wore the Brooch on a visit to her cousins, Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh, at Clarence House in 1951.

Grand Duchess Vladimir’s Sapphire and Diamond Brooch and Ear Clips remained with Princess Olga’s children until 2009, when they were sold at Auction at Sotheby’s in Geneva.