Sapphire that once belonged to doomed Romanov family fetches nearly £4m at auction

A bracelet containing a sapphire once owned by Russia's doomed Romanov family has fetched more than 4.1 million Swiss francs (£3.7 million) at auction in Geneva.Sotheby's said that the price vastly exceeded the expected price range of 850,000 to 1.7 million francs (£770,000 to £1.54 million) for the stone, which went under the hammer late on Wednesday.The buyer was a private collector, who was not identified.The cushion-shaped sapphire weighs 197.80 carats and is a Ceylon stone that likely came from the Mughal Empire in south Asia.It made its way into Russia's imperial jewels in the 19th century and is one of the most important surviving gemstones from the Russian court.The sapphire was previously owned by the Romanov family (Getty)The auction house billed it as a very rare stone.Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, Czar Nicholas II's mother, wore the sapphire at the Winter Palace Ball of 1903 – which was "widely regarded as the last great spectacle of Imperial Russia and immortalized in some of the most iconic images of the Romanov court”, the auction house said.The Romanovs were the last imperial dynasty to rule Russia, from 1613 until 1917, and Peter the Great and Catherine the Great are among their most famous members.Czar Nicholas was the last Emperor of Russia, and he, along with his wife Alexandra and their children Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia and Alexei, were all slain in 1918 during the Russian Revolution.Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia, pictured in 1881 (Charles Jacotin/Wikimedia Commons)The dowager empress fled to Crimea during the revolution along with other Romanov refugees, later living in England and finally Denmark, where she died in 1928.Following the revolution, the sapphire was recorded in inventory before entering the Soviet government's dispersal sales of imperial treasures, Sotheby's said.Opera singer Ganna Walska then owned it, before it was later acquired by Cartier.Before the auction, Andres White Correal, Sotheby’s chair of jewellery Europe and Middle East, said: “The extraordinary success of our Royal & Noble Jewels sales reflects collectors’ enduring fascination with jewels that combine exceptional gemstones, craftsmanship and history.“This season’s auction is led by rare treasures associated with some of Europe’s most important imperial and royal families, from the Romanovs to the Houses of Orleans and Braganza, each offering a unique window into history.”