Inside the historic Viennese jewelry house that has adorned European royalty for more than two centuries

By Alison Syrett Cleary

It’s the stars that pique my interest first. Complete with 10 sharp points each and countless micro-diamonds, the stellar hairpins by A. E. Köchert were said to be the signature of Austria’s arguably most beloved royal: Empress Elisabeth, fondly known as Sisi, a free-spirited 19th-century duchess sent from her home in Bavaria to marry the Austrian emperor, Franz Joseph. (Legend has it she was something of an influencer of the analog age, sparking trends without the assistance of filters or algorithms.) When Franz Joseph commissioned the jewelry house to create 27 of the sparkling decorations for his wife’s famously long dark hair—reportedly inspired by a glamorous opera singer’s costume—it ignited a national sensation, and cemented the brand’s status as the go-to atelier for Austria’s Habsburg family. READ ON