Blazing sapphires and lush emeralds drip from the necklaces, brooches and bracelets. One standout piece, the “Briolette of India,” includes a 90-carat diamond and carries a high estimate of $7.8 million.
They are among the 700 jewels from the estate of an Austrian heiress that will go on sale at Christie’s on May 3 as part of one of the largest jewelry sales in history. The auction house is predicting that jewels from the estate of Heidi Horten, the heiress who died last year, will bring in more than $150 million, surpassing the $137 million taken in during the 2011 sale of Elizabeth Taylor’s collection.
The proceeds are to benefit a charitable foundation established by Horten, whose husband, Helmut, was a German retailing billionaire whose specialty was department stores.
