Anyone attending the Christie's Magnificent Jewels auction next month might want to bring a pair of sunglasses with them. The array of glittering precious stones on display at the event in Geneva on May 13 is blinding. It includes a pink diamond worth £8million, a sapphire worth £2.7million and  a pair of diamond earrings with £670,000. A Christie's employee wears the Maria Christina Royal Devant-de-Corsage brooch, which is expected to fetch £1 to £1.33million . Overall, the auction is expected to raise in excess of £53million. The auction will showcase  351 historically significant and antique jewels spanning from the 18th to the 20th centuries. The most important piece is the Maria Christina Royal Devant-de-­Corsage brooch, which was presented as a wedding gift from King Alfonso XII of Spain to his wife, the Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria in November 1879. Among the highlights of the important colourless and coloured diamonds is a pear-­‐shaped D-­color Flawless diamond of 55.52 carats (estimate: £5,650,000 – 7,000,000), a rectangular-­cut Fancy Vivid Pink diamond of 5.18 carats (estimate: £6,300,000 – 8,300,000) and an Ashoka-­cut D-color Flawless diamond ring of 21.75 carats (estimate: £1,860,000 – 2,330,000). A sapphire and diamond ring with the cushion-shaped sapphire of 35.09 carats from Kashmir and of Royal Blue colour. The ring is expected to sell for some £2 - 2.7million) Also for sale is a pair of antique emerald Indian bangles, which are believed to have descended from one of the more prominent Indian Royal families. Set with large emeralds, they would have been worn spaced with other gem-­set bracelets in the style  of the Art Deco period in the 1920s and 1930s. The bangles come with fitted red leather cases embossed with a gold B on each of them and are especially rare because they are one of the few old Indian jewels that have not been taken apart for their gem content. The auction also features a pair of ruby and diamond ear pendants and matching ring, by Van Cleef & Arpels that was once owned by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis - they were given to her as a wedding gift by Aristotle Onassis in 1968. An unmounted diamond, colour D, of flawless clarity and 55.52 carats, which is expected to sell for £5.7 - 6.7million . The Maria Christina Royal Devant-de-­Corsage brooch was presented as a wedding gift from King Alfonso XII of Spain to his wife, the Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria in November 1879 .
Christie's is holding a Magnificent Jewels auction next month in Geneva . Overall, it is expected to raise in excess of £53million . Includes pink diamond worth £8million and sapphire worth £2.7million .