Bonhams New Bond Street will present the highly anticipated London Jewels sale on June 5, 2025, featuring a remarkable highlight: the rare Astor turquoise and diamond tiara by Cartier, dating from around 1930. This tiara, formerly owned by Nancy, Viscountess Astor, is appearing on the market for the first time since it was originally purchased by Lord Astor from Cartier London. With its unique blend of Eastern design elements and Western craftsmanship, the tiara carries a pre-sale estimate of £250,000 to £350,000.
Nancy Astor, born Nancy Witcher Langhorne in Virginia, became the first woman to take a seat in the British Parliament, serving from 1919 until 1945. After moving to England in 1905, she married Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor, in 1906. The couple made their home at Cliveden estate in Buckinghamshire, a gift from Astor’s father. Nancy Astor was well known as a prominent hostess for Britain’s social elite and a vocal advocate for temperance, welfare, education reform, and women’s rights during her time in Parliament.
The tiara is first recorded in Cartier’s archives in 1929, when the company instructed English Art Works to add carved turquoise plumes and leaves to an existing diamond bandeau in 1930. By November 1930, the completed turquoise and diamond tiara was listed in Cartier’s records and sold to Viscount Astor a month later. Nancy Astor wore the tiara in public in 1931 at the London premiere of City Lights.
In the early 1930s, she also loaned the tiara to her sister, Phyllis Langhorne Brand, for a court presentation at Buckingham Palace. Inspired by this design, Nancy’s brother-in-law, the Hon. Robert Henry Brand, commissioned Cartier to create a similar turquoise and diamond tiara in 1935. This second tiara is currently on display at the V&A museum’s Cartier exhibition.
The Cartier Astor tiara features old brilliant, single, and rose-cut diamonds, with a principal old brilliant-cut diamond at the center, from which three fluted turquoise plumes extend, set with brilliant and single-cut diamond stems. Each side of the tiara is decorated with a fan-shaped turquoise panel design. The combination of these elements makes the tiara a rare example of Cartier’s Eastern-inspired jewellery from the early 20th century.
Other notable pieces in the London Jewels sale include a Fancy Pink and Fancy Bluish-Green diamond ‘toi et moi’ ring, mid-19th-century antique diamond-set rose brooches, a Schlumberger for Tiffany & Co. diamond and gem-set leaves necklace from around 1980, diamond chandelier earrings, and a Cartier citrine and diamond clip brooch from the 1930s.
This sale provides a rare opportunity to acquire jewellery with significant historical and design value, led by the Cartier Astor turquoise and diamond tiara, a piece that has not appeared on the market in nearly 100 years.
