Twenty-three years after the legendary auction of the “Jewels of the Duchess of Windsor” – still the most valuable single-owner jewellery collection ever sold – Sotheby’s will offer twenty pieces for sale in

London on 30 November 2010.

According to the auctions house, the pieces are estimated to fetch in an estimated �3 million.

David Bennett, Chairman of Sotheby’s Jewellery in Europe and the Middle East, said: “It is an extraordinary honor to bring once again to sale these jewels worn by a woman who was a leader of fashion and the epitome of elegance and sophistication for her generation and beyond.

"The offering comprises not only incomparable examples of the genius of Cartier in collaboration with the Windsors, but also pieces whose inscriptions tell the story of perhaps the greatest love story of the 20th century, the romance that led Edward VIII to abdicate the throne of Great Britain.”

The Windsors and famed jewelers House of Cartier had a long standing relationship, Sotheby's said, adding that during the Prince of Wales’s courtship of Wallis Simpson, during his brief period on the throne, as well as during their married life, the couple commissioned exquisite jewels from Cartier, as well as the other great European jewellery houses.

The sale will comprise a comprehensive array of pieces commissioned from Cartier, and will include an onyx and diamond panther bracelet designed in 1952 – perhaps the finest among the Duchess of Windsor three dimensional “great cats” jewels.

Other signature pieces will include a flamingo brooch, ablaze with rubies, sapphires, emeralds, citrines and diamonds bought by the Duchess in 1940, a heart-shaped emerald, ruby and diamond brooch, a diamond bracelet which supports nine gem set Latin crosses, a diamond dress suite made by Cartier in 1935, an 18-carat gold and gem set cigarette case; a gold mesh, ruby, turquoise anddiamond purse by Van Cleef & Arpels and a series of silver items and medals, once property of Edward, the Prince of Wales.