Pre-Owned Luxury Jewelry
Chaumet Jewelry
In May 1805, François-Regnault Nitot carried a gem-studded tiara from Paris to Rome — a gift from Napoleon to Pope Pius VII, who had attended the Emperor’s coronation. The house that made it has been at 12 Place Vendôme ever since. No other jewelry house alive today was present at Napoleon’s court.
Opulent Jewelers — Authenticated Pre-Owned Chaumet JewelryChaumet — Napoleon’s Jeweler, 245 Years at Place Vendôme
Chaumet is the oldest jewelry house represented on Place Vendôme and one of the oldest fine jewelry houses in continuous operation anywhere in the world. Its founding year of 1780 predates the French Revolution. Its founder, Marie-Étienne Nitot, had apprenticed under Ange-Joseph Aubert — the official jeweler to Queen Marie-Antoinette — before establishing his own maison. When Napoleon Bonaparte rose to power, Nitot aligned himself with the new imperial court and in 1804 became the official jeweler to Napoleon I. The commissions that followed defined the house’s legacy and the French Empire’s visual identity: Napoleon’s coronation sword, the papal tiara presented to Pope Pius VII in 1805, and the jewelry created for Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais — including tiaras, parures, and the personal pieces she wore throughout their relationship. Chaumet has crafted over 2,500 tiaras since 1780.
After Napoleon’s exile, the house passed through several families — the Fossins, the Morels — before Joseph Chaumet gave it his name in 1889 and established the maison at its permanent address: 12 Place Vendôme, where the High Jewelry workshop operates to this day. The house embraced Art Nouveau at the turn of the century, Art Deco in the 1920s and 1930s, and continued to serve European royalty and the international elite across every period. In 1977 it launched the Liens collection — “links” in French — inspired by the bond between Joséphine and Napoleon. In 1999 Chaumet was acquired by LVMH, joining Cartier’s parent Richemont’s principal competitor in the luxury goods world. The house’s archives at 12 Place Vendôme contain 80,000 drawings and 19,800 original invoices spanning its entire history.
At Opulent Jewelers, our pre-owned Chaumet collection is sourced from private estates and consignors. Every piece is authenticated before listing against the house’s specific hallmarks and production characteristics.
Chaumet Jewelry Collections We Carry
Joséphine Collection
Launched in 2010 to mark Chaumet’s 230th anniversary, the Joséphine collection is a direct tribute to the Empress who was the house’s first great client and its most enduring source of inspiration. The collection draws from the tiara and diadem forms that defined Joséphine’s jewelry identity — translated into contemporary rings, earrings, and necklaces where the tiara shape becomes a ring setting, often centered on a pear-cut diamond or colored stone. The pear-cut was a favorite of Joséphine’s, and remains the collection’s signature stone format. The Joséphine ring — where the band rises to a tiara-shaped crown holding a pear-cut center stone — is the most recognizable Chaumet jewelry piece in the current secondary market.
Bee My Love — Bee de Chaumet
The bee was Napoleon’s personal heraldic emblem — chosen in part because it associated him with Childeric I, the fifth-century Frankish king whose burial hoard had included hundreds of gem-encrusted bee jewels, and in part because its shape echoed the French fleur-de-lis. It became the emblem of both Napoleon and the house that served him. The Bee My Love collection renders the honeycomb — the bee’s architectural structure — as a setting motif: hexagonal cells in mirror-polished gold with diamonds, used for rings, bracelets, earrings, and necklaces. Available in yellow, rose, and white 18-karat gold, plain and with diamond accents. Wedding rings in the collection stack and may be worn together. A design with a specific and historically grounded identity that no other house can claim.
Liens — The Links Collection
Liens — French for “links” or “bonds” — was launched in 1977 and is the house’s longest-running contemporary collection. Inspired by the bond between Joséphine and Napoleon that first commissioned Chaumet’s greatest work, the collection uses an interlocking link motif in 18-karat gold with and without diamonds across rings, bracelets, earrings, and necklaces. The Liens ring — a band with an interlocking double-link detail at the center — is among the most frequently encountered Chaumet formats on the secondary market. The collection has been in continuous production for nearly fifty years and represents the house’s most accessible and most widely collected contemporary jewelry line.
Attrape-Moi & Botanical Designs
The Attrape-moi…si tu m’aimes collection — “Catch me…if you love me” — launched in 2007 and draws from the spider and its web, rendered in 18-karat gold with diamonds in delicate geometric structures. The naturalist tradition at Chaumet is one of the oldest in the house’s history — Joséphine’s love of botanical forms, wheat sheaf motifs, and nature-inspired jewelry set a precedent the house has followed for two centuries. Chaumet’s 2022 Végétal exhibition at the Beaux-Arts de Paris linked jewelry, painting, drawing, and sculpture through the house’s botanical design tradition. Estate Chaumet pieces from across the house’s production history frequently feature nature-inspired motifs traceable to this long tradition.
The House That Made Napoleon’s Jewelry — 245 Years Later
Chaumet’s position in fine jewelry history is genuinely without equivalent. Cartier was founded in 1847. Van Cleef & Arpels in 1906. Bvlgari in 1884. Chaumet was founded in 1780 — it predates all of them by at least a generation — and its first great period was the Napoleonic Empire, when the house was producing coronation regalia, papal tiaras, and the personal jewelry of the Empress of France. No other currently operating jewelry house was present at Napoleon’s court. The bee, the wheat sheaf, and the tiara are not decorative motifs invented for a contemporary collection — they are design elements drawn directly from 245 years of continuous production at the same address in Paris.
On the secondary market, Chaumet is significantly undervalued relative to its historical importance and the quality of its production. The Joséphine ring and Liens bracelet are recognizable to anyone who knows fine jewelry, but the house’s lower American retail profile compared to Cartier or Van Cleef means secondary market prices reflect US market recognition rather than the true depth of the house’s heritage. For a buyer who understands what they are acquiring, pre-owned Chaumet represents access to LVMH-owned Parisian fine jewelry with a 245-year history at prices that do not yet reflect that history fully.
What We Verify on Every Pre-Owned Chaumet Piece
Chaumet jewelry carries French gold hallmarks and the house’s specific maker’s mark, applied at the Paris assay office. The Joséphine collection’s tiara-form settings and the Bee My Love honeycomb cell geometry are both verifiable production characteristics specific to the house.
Genuine Chaumet pieces carry the French eagle-head hallmark confirming 18-karat gold (750 fineness) alongside the Chaumet maker’s mark — a lozenge-shaped punch with the house’s initials, registered with the Paris assay office. Both are verified under magnification on every piece. The hallmark format is assessed for period consistency with the design and production characteristics of the piece.
The Joséphine collection’s tiara-crown setting geometry, the pear-cut stone orientation, and the specific construction of the band-to-crown junction are verifiable against Chaumet’s production. Bee My Love honeycomb cell geometry and mirror-polish finish are production-specific. Liens link construction and interlocking detail are assessed against known Chaumet production characteristics for the relevant period.
Diamond settings on all Chaumet jewelry pieces are assessed stone by stone for security, quality, and condition consistent with the house’s production standards. Pear-cut and other shaped stone settings in the Joséphine collection are examined for stone security and setting integrity. Missing or loose stones are disclosed explicitly before listing.
Ring sizes are measured precisely in both French/European and US equivalents. Surface condition — gold finish wear, stone face condition, engraving legibility on the interior shank — is graded honestly and disclosed fully. We do not photograph pieces to conceal surface condition.
Chaumet Jewelry — What Buyers Ask
Chaumet is a French fine jewelry house founded in 1780 in Paris — making it one of the oldest operating jewelry houses in the world, predating Cartier by 67 years and Van Cleef & Arpels by 126. Its founder Marie-Étienne Nitot became the official jeweler to Napoleon I in 1804 and created Napoleon’s coronation sword, the papal tiara for Pope Pius VII, and the personal jewelry of Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais. The house has been at 12 Place Vendôme since 1907 and has been owned by LVMH since 1999. It is the oldest jewelry house on Place Vendôme. Browse our current Chaumet collection to see what is available.
The Chaumet Joséphine collection was launched in 2010 to mark the house’s 230th anniversary as a tribute to Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais — Napoleon’s first Empress and Chaumet’s greatest early client. The collection translates the tiara and diadem forms that defined Joséphine’s jewelry identity into contemporary rings, earrings, and necklaces. The signature piece is the Joséphine ring, where the band rises to a tiara-shaped crown holding a pear-cut center stone — pear-cut was Joséphine’s preferred stone shape. The collection is the most widely recognized and most searched Chaumet jewelry format on the secondary market.
The Bee My Love collection — now known as Bee de Chaumet — is inspired by the bee, which was Napoleon’s personal heraldic emblem. Napoleon chose the bee because it associated him with Childeric I, the fifth-century Frankish king whose burial hoard included hundreds of gem-encrusted bee jewels, and because the bee’s shape echoed the fleur-de-lis. The bee became the emblem of both Napoleon and the house that served him. The collection renders the honeycomb — the bee’s architectural structure — as a setting motif in mirror-polished 18-karat gold with diamonds, in a hexagonal cell geometry that is immediately identifiable as Chaumet. Available as rings, bracelets, earrings, and necklaces, with stackable wedding ring formats in yellow, rose, and white gold.
Liens — French for “links” or “bonds” — was launched in 1977 and is Chaumet’s longest-running contemporary collection. Inspired by the bond between Joséphine and Napoleon and the commission that defined Chaumet’s early history, the collection uses an interlocking double-link motif in 18-karat gold with and without diamonds. The Liens ring features an interlocking link detail at the center of the band. The Liens bracelet uses the same link motif at a larger scale. The collection has been in production for nearly fifty years and is the Chaumet format most consistently available on the secondary market.
Chaumet has been owned by LVMH (Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton) since 1999. LVMH is the world’s largest luxury conglomerate and also owns Bulgari, TAG Heuer, Zenith, and Fred Paris in the watches and jewelry category, alongside Louis Vuitton, Dior, Givenchy, and many other houses. Before LVMH, the house had been acquired by a British investment firm in 1987 after the Chaumet family’s involvement ended. The house remained at 12 Place Vendôme through both ownership changes and under LVMH has significantly expanded its international presence while maintaining the High Jewelry workshop on the premises.
French 18-karat gold jewelry carries the eagle-head hallmark — a small stamp showing a left-facing eagle head — applied by the Paris assay office confirming 750 fineness (18-karat gold). This is distinct from the Swiss 750 stamp used by Cartier, Piaget, and other Swiss houses. Alongside the eagle-head mark, genuine Chaumet pieces carry the Chaumet maker’s mark: a lozenge-shaped punch with the house’s registered initials. Both marks appear on the interior shank of rings, on clasps of bracelets and necklaces, and on the backs of earring posts. The eagle-head hallmark format was introduced in France in 1838 and has been in continuous use since — the format of the stamp is period-specific and provides authentication context for vintage and estate pieces.
Secondary market pricing for pre-owned Chaumet rings varies significantly by collection, stone content, and condition. Plain Liens bands in 18-karat gold typically range from $800 to $2,500 depending on gold weight and diamond content. Joséphine rings with pear-cut diamonds range from approximately $2,500 to $8,000+ depending on the size and quality of the center stone. Bee My Love rings in 18-karat gold with diamond-set honeycomb cells range from $1,200 to $4,000. Diamond-set Chaumet cocktail rings and high jewelry pieces are priced case by case based on stone quality and weight. All pricing reflects current secondary market conditions and is stated honestly in every listing.
Yes. We purchase Chaumet pieces outright and accept pieces on consignment — Joséphine rings and earrings, Bee My Love and Bee de Chaumet pieces, Liens rings and bracelets, Attrape-moi designs, and vintage and estate Chaumet from across the house’s production history. French hallmarks, maker’s mark, and stone security are verified on every piece. Reach out through our consignment inquiry page to get started.
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