THE SAVVY SHOPPER: Sisi's Stars

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

Sisi's Stars

I've always loved the famous jewels Empress Elisabeth of Austria (1837 - 1898), born into the royal Bavarian House of Wittelsbach, wore in her hair.

The Empress ordered a set of at least 27 10-pointed stars, set with diamonds and pearls, which she could wear as a necklace, tiara, pendant, brooches, or as hair clips.

Star jewelry was popular in the Victorian era, and Sisi's gorgeous set was designed by the Austrian court jeweler, A. E. Köchert in 1855, one year after her marriage to Emperor Franz Joseph. They are eternalized in her celebrated portrait (of 1865) by Franz Xaver Winterhalter, the best royal portrait painter of the age, IMHO.

After her son, Crown Prince Rudolf's, shocking murder-suicide [known in history as the Mayerling Incident] in 1889, Sisi, never again wore jewelry and give the set away. Some of the stars went to her ladies-in-waiting, and the rest she left to family members. In 1902, Sisi's stars were the something old, her granddaughter and Crown Prince Rudolf's daughter, Elisabeth (known as the Red Archduchess), wore on her wedding day. According to the jeweler, "the trail of the stars has since gone cold, and only three survive."

Nowadays you can still buy a version of Sisi's stars from Köchert. At 4,400 - 5,400 Euros (or $4,544 - $5,578), I'm waiting for my Fairy Godmother👗 to appear to present me with a pair in the form of earrings. Any design is fine, Fairy Mother ... post or dangling! Oh, where is she hiding? C'mon, let's do this, Fairy Godmother, I love them so!"😍

Another place you can get replicas is from the Sisishop, the museum shop of the Schoenbrunn in Vienna, but like the jewelry sold at all museums, they are overpriced. You'll pay 4 - 5 times more than the true value for sterling silver jewelry with cubic zirconia stones ... and why on earth would my Fairy Godmother skimp and not step up her magic powers to ☆・*Bibbidi Bobbodi Boo☆・*。me Sisi's white gold and diamond earrings? Just saying, if she has the magic, and no mortgage to worry about, she'd spare no expense, no?💥😛☆・*。