Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Radziwill necklace goes to Count Potocki

July 21, 1926 
 By wireless to the New York Times. 


 A Paris court has awarded the "famous Radziwill emerald necklace," to Count Potocki, "holder of the Lancut estate. The necklace, valued before the World War at 11,000,000 Francs, has been the subject of "plots, litigation and discussion" since the death of the original owner, the Dowager Princess Antoine Radziwill, widow of a former aide-de-camp of Kaiser Wilhelm I. 

 She bequeathed the necklace to her son, Prince Stanislaus, with the provision that he died without male issue, "now worth a fortune in paper francs, should go to the holder of the Lancut estate." 

Prince Stanislas was killed at the Battle of Manin, fighting the Bolsheviks, in April 1920. He had only one child, a daughter. Count Potocki filed suit to obtain the "disputed necklace, which had been hidden by Stanislas's widow."

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