Imelda Marcos, wife of the deposed Philippines president Ferdinand Marcos, is most famous for her shoe collection, but she managed to amass a collection of fine jewels that even caused Christie’s appraisers to gasp.
Some of the standout pieces of Imelda Marcos’ jewelry collection – known as the Roumeloites – include a 20-carat cabochon emerald pin set with a two-carat cabochon ruby and diamonds in white gold; a 30.76-carat Bulgari diamond bangle bracelet valued at $1 million in 1986; a ruby and diamond bracelet by Van Cleef & Arpels; and a brooch set with a 10-carat canary yellow diamond and a South Sea pearl.
The Roumeloites also include two necklaces – a platinum choker containing 50 carats of diamonds and 75 carats of emeralds – including 15 five-carat emerald stones; and a necklace by Italian jewelry designer Buccellati set with a total of 93 carats of diamonds.
The jewelry was confiscated by US authorities after the Marcoses attempted to smuggle it into Hawaii after they fled the Philippines. In 2005, Imelda Marcos filed suit to prevent her jewelry collection from being auctioned off by Sotheby’s and Bonham’s. She appealed to the government, saying that the sale of her jewels – the proceeds of which were supposed to fund a land reform program in her native Philippines – was “too much repression.”
