Nov. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Maria Callas, known as ``La Divina,'' was photographed wearing diamonds and rubies that may have been gifts from her husband Giovanni Battista Meneghini when she was gaining fame at Milan's La Scala opera house in the 1950s.

The jewels were auctioned last night in Geneva by New York- based Sotheby's Holdings Inc. for $1.8 million, compared with a pre-sale estimate of about $1 million, Sotheby's said in a statement. Callas bequeathed the 11 pieces of jewelry to ``a member of her circle'' before she died 27 years ago, it said. They are mostly believed to be Meneghini's gifts, Sotheby's said.

Celebrities' jewelry can fetch multiples of the underlying value. Buyers in New York in June paid as much as 10 times the estimated value of diamonds and pearls owned by late tobacco heiress Doris Duke. Some Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis memorabilia has sold for 50 times its estimated worth, said Brett O'Connor, a Sotheby's director in Geneva.

Callas's jewels didn't achieve such multiples. The most expensive item was a marquise-shaped diamond ring weighing 11.7 Carats. It sold for $397,246, compared with a top estimate of $206,540.

Evening Bag

Photos from the 1950s show Callas clasping a gold evening bag by Van Cleef & Arpels. The bag took $45,439, compared with a top estimate of $12,000 before the sale.

A ruby-and-diamond brooch by Van Cleef dating from 1967 took $144,578, compared with a top valuation of $90,361.

The auction prices include Sotheby's commission of 20 percent for the first $100,000 of value, and 12 percent on the rest. Sotheby's pre-sale estimates don't include commissions.

Callas, a daughter of Greek immigrants to the U.S., earned her fame and fortune portraying fierce opera heroines such as Bellini's ``Norma'' and Puccini's ``Tosca.'' For a Chicago concert in 1957, she earned $10,000 -- equal to the record- setting Edith Piaf, who was then the highest-paid female entertainer, according to biographer David Bret in ``Maria Callas: The Tigress and the Lamb.''

Meneghini married Callas in 1949. He took charge of her career for 10 years as she performed in Milan, New York, Chicago and London, and showered her with jewels, according to Sotheby's. The marriage, and eventually her stage career, ended after Callas began seeing Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis, who left her and married U.S. President John F. Kennedy's widow in 1968.

Callas died in Paris in 1977, leaving her family and friends to squabble over a fortune valued by Bret at as much as $12 million.

Critics

The auction had its critics. Franco Zeffirelli, an Italian film director and opera producer who worked with Callas, said the sale was an ``exploitation'' of the diva's fame, the London Sunday Times reported last month.

While Sotheby's hasn't identified the sellers of the jewels, there are at least two theories. According to biographer Bret, the jewelry was divvied up after Callas's death by Meneghini and Jackie Callas, the soprano's sister, as they settled a dispute over the will, with Callas's family taking Onassis's gifts and Meneghini his own.

Meneghini, who died in 1981, may have left the jewels to his maid, a Signora Roverselli, reported London's Independent newspaper. Another theory is that the sellers of the jewels were heirs of the late Vasso Devetzi, a Greek pianist and friend of Callas.

According to Jackie Callas's 1989 book, ``Sisters: A Revealing Portrait of the World's Most Famous Diva,'' it was Jackie and Devetzi who divided up the jewels as they circled Callas's Paris flat after her death, with Meneghini's gifts going to Devetzi, the Times reported.

For really big occasions, Callas's own jewels weren't enough. She accepted $5,000 from a jeweler to display $1 million of emeralds at a party after she sang ``Norma'' at the New York Metropolitan Opera in 1956, and sported $3 million of rented emeralds the following year at a costume ball at New York's Waldorf-Astoria hotel, according to Bret's book. Callas was by then ``a fully fledged member of the jet set,'' he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Linda Sandler in London at lsandler@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 18, 2004 04:17 EST