A ruby and diamond bracelet that once belonged to movie star Marlene Dietrich will go up for auction in June at Christie’s New York, where it is expected to sell for up to $4.5 million.
Dietrich, born in Berlin in 1901, was one of the most iconic stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age and is known for her unwavering activism against Nazism and Fascism during World War II. Dietrich also contested the strict gender roles who ruled cinema in his time.
In 1937, Dietrich acquired the “Jarretière” ruby and diamond bracelet from the French luxury jewelry company Van Cleef & Arpels. Dietrich wore the bracelet in the 1950 Alfred Hitchcock murder mystery Stage fright, in which Dietrich plays a famous actress whose husband is murdered. Dietrich also wore the bracelet at the 1951 Oscars and it can be seen on her wrist in footage of her presenting an award at the ceremony. The bracelet belonged to Dietrich favorite jewel, his grandson Peter Riva said The Baltimore Sun in 1992, following Dietrich’s death in May of that year at the age of 90.
“It was the only piece of jewelry she kept,” Riva said. “She loved her emeralds too, but she lost them, probably to the IRS for back taxes. She clung to the ruby bracelet in good times and bad.
Dietrich’s family said at the time that they believe the bracelet was created for her by Van Cleef & Arpels from pieces of her. existing jewelry collection, including diamond earrings, diamond necklace and matching ruby bracelet and earrings. In 1992, the bracelet was recovered $990,000 at Sotheby’s New York.
The bracelet is the featured lot in a sale from interior designer Anne Eisenhower’s jewelry collection. Eisenhower, who was a granddaughter of US President Dwight D. Eisenhower, died last year aged 73. Other highlights of her collection include a 20-carat diamond ring that is expected to sell for at least $1.2 million and a panther brooch by Cartier that could fetch up to $150,000.
Eisenhower’s jewelry collection will be sold in a live, online sale during Christie’s Luxury Week in June. Auctions of jewelry, other luxury items, and items affiliated with celebrities and historical figures have become an increasingly important profession for Christie’s and Sotheby’s in recent years.
