Napoleon Diamond Necklace

Nitot had been commissioned to create several other pieces for the Emperor in the past, including Napoleon's papal tiara, his coronation crown, his ceremonial sword and the wedding jewels of his first wife, Josephine de Beauharnais.

The profligate use of diamonds in the piece—an incredibly rare gemstone given that modern sources such as South Africa and Siberia had yet to be tapped—was a deliberate display of extravagance on Napoleon's part.

[7] There are several contemporary portraits of Marie Louise wearing the Napoleon Diamond Necklace, including a number by the artists François Gérard[8][9] and Giovan Battista Borghesi.

As the necklace was part of her personal belongings, rather than state property like the Crown Jewels, Marie Louise took it with her when she left the country herself.

Karl Ludwig later acquired his brothers' stakes in the necklace, and upon his death in 1896 passed it to his third wife, Maria Theresa of Portugal.

[1] At the start of the Great Depression in 1929, Maria Theresa sought to sell the Napoleon Diamond Necklace along with other inherited jewelry to bolster the family's finances.

The pair had enlisted Maria Theresa's destitute nephew, Archduke Leopold of Habsburg, to vouch for their characters, and promised her that the necklace would fetch at least US$450,000.

The scandal reached the New York Times on March 1, 1930,[6] along with initial reports that the Townsends had removed several stones from the necklace to sell separately.

[6] Leopold voluntarily turned himself in and spent twelve days in The Tombs, a detention complex in Manhattan, before a neighbour posted his bail bond.

In 1960, Weiller sold the Napoleon Diamond Necklace to Harry Winston, who believed that the historical value of the piece would make it more valuable than if the stones were removed and resold individually, as was common practice at the time.

Post donated the necklace to the Smithsonian Institution in 1962, and it has since remained on display at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., United States.

The donation also included the original leather case for the necklace, commissioned by Napoleon in the empress's official colours (green and gold) and inscribed with her initials.