FAMOUS PEARLS AND COLLECTIONS 479
time of her marriage in 1843 by Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy, Bart., brought the sum of £6800 ($34,000).
A
pearl necklace, containing fifty-three fine and graduated pearls, was
sold in London, June 9, 1902, for the sum of £2250 ($11,250). Another
necklace of sixty-eight fine round pearls, one of which formed the
clasp, brought £1580 ($7900). A beautiful pearl and brilliant pendant
of open scroll design, with a large, round white pearl in the center,
and a large, pear-shaped black pearl as drop, realized £800 ($4000),
and a pearl collar of ten rows of round pearls brought £820 ($4100). A
noteworthy offering at this sale was a rope of 135 pearls, an heirloom
sold under the will of Lady Marianna Augusta Hamilton. These pearls had
been given to Lady Augusta Anne Cockburn in 1769 on the occasion of her
marriage to Sir James Cockburn, Bart., by her godmother, Augusta,
Duchess of Brunswick, sister to George III. The rope was sold for £900
($4500).
The
pearls of Lady Dudley were sold at Christie's on July 4, 1902. Among
them was a magnificent necklace of forty-seven slightly graduated round
pearls, of large size and unusually brilliant orient ; their gross
weight was 1090 grains. This necklace brought the sum of £22,200
($111,000). A single pear-shaped pearl of the finest orient mounted
with a diamond cap, as a pendant, and weighing 209 grains, was sold
for £13,500 ($67,500). A rope of 222 graduated round pearls of the
highest quality, weighing 2320 grains was purchased for £16,700
($83,500), and a pearl and brilliant tiara brought £10,300 ($51,500).
The entire casket of thirty-one lots realized £89,526 ($447,630).
At
the sale of the jewels of Mile. Wanda de Boncza, at the Hôtel Drouot,
Paris, December 6, 1902, a fine necklace was disposed of for the sum of
150,000 francs ($30,000), and a rope of 100 small pearls realized
38,100 francs ($7620) ; the proceeds of the entire sale of these jewels
were 1,249,578 francs ($249,915).
Among the Aqualia jewels, sold in London in 1903, was a pearl necklace that brought £4480 ($22,400).
The
jewels of the late Marquis of Anglesey, an enthusiastic jewel and art
collector, were disposed of at Christie's on May 4 and 5, 1904. At the
time of his death, the marquis was supposed to be a bankrupt, but the
value of the gems which he had purchased had increased so rapidly that
the sale realized the sum of £22,988 10s. ($114,942), more than enough
to cover all the obligations of the estate. Of this amount a
magnificent drop-pearl, mounted as a scarf-pin, brought £4000 ($20,000)
; another drop-pearl of the finest orient, weighing 105^ grains, but
slightly cracked, was sold for £3700 ($18,500). Four other drop-shaped
pearls, mounted as scarf-pins, were sold for £5220 ($26,100), one of
them bringing £1720 ($8600). A single bouton pearl, used as a coat
fastener, realized £980 ($4900), and a pearl trefoil was purchased for
£580 ($2900). One fine large bouton pearl, set as a stud, was disposed
of for £3000 ($15,000), and another somewhat smaller bouton, also set
as a stud, brought £1600 ($8000).
A splendid necklace comprising forty-nine well-matched and graduated
