Sophia was born in Amsterdam as the daughter of a well-to-do Catholic family and enjoyed travelling and collecting antiquities, paintings, jewelry and curiosities.

She married in 1860 relatively late in life in England with the Dutch nobleman jonkheer Augustus Pieter Lopez Suasso (1804-1877).

She specialized in miniature silver and kept this in large cabinets made to order in her home, which she opened to friends and relatives.

She documented each purchase carefully, so for example in one of her booklets between notes for the cost of washing and butter there is mention of a brooch and earring set from Tiger teeth.

[1] In her will she left her fortune to the City of Amsterdam and stipulated that a museum in her name should be formed that would show off her collection and cost one guilder entry fee.