Thursday March 28th, 2024
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Late Egyptian King Farouk's Rare Jewels to be auctioned in London

You can get your hands on some of the late Egyptian king's jewels, and they're quite inexpensive!

Staff Writer

Rare jewels that belonged to the late King Farouk will be auctioned in London at the Fine Jewels collection at Sotheby’s, according to Forbes Middle East.

The auction, beginning on June 6th, will include 3 King Farouk pieces: a Van Cleef & Arpels diamond brooch, tie pins, cufflinks and a diamond purse handle. Sounds expensive. The diamond brooch, a bird balanced on a coral branch, was one of the king’s favourite jewels, and now it can be yours (well, if you have a little money to spare). It’s estimated to be sold for a price between £700 to £1,500. I’ll pass.
If you’re too broke for that piece, maybe the next ones will interest you. Cufflinks illustrated with King Farouk’s face and another tie pin decorated with rubies and single-cut diamonds will also be auctioned for an estimated price of £220 to £350. I mean, I’m not saying I’m about to run to London to put a bid, but this seems quite cheap for pieces that belonged to an Egyptian king crowned in the 1930’s.

The third King Farouk piece to join the auction is a purse handle adapted as a bracelet with cut-diamond flowers and baguette diamonds. It’s estimated to be sold for a whopping £2,193 to £3,490. Not exactly in the average person’s price range.

King Farouk and his family owned A LOT of impressive jewellery – in December 2015, a 220 carat diamond bibstyle necklace that once belonged to Egyptian queen Nazli, mother of King Farouk, was sold for £3.2 Million at Sotheby’s. In March 2018, a gold Patek Phillipe, only 1 in 281 ever been made, sold for $912,500 at an auction in Dubai, setting a record for a timepiece auctioned in the Middle East.

In 2013, the King’s bedroom was stolen from the former royal guesthouse, replaced by cheap furniture from Omar Effendi, and put up for sale for $1 million in the United States. Someone please make a movie about this.

Main image from Masr Al Arabia