[Caitlin]

Sotheby's: Calvin, Kelly Klein to Sell Pearls, Diamonds from Duchess of Windsor By Jeff Miller RAPAPORT... Sotheby's New York will offer three lots of magnificent natural pearl and diamond jewels from the collection of Kelly and Calvin Klein on December 4. The auction house calls the offerings of historical importance as the Kleins purchased the pieces during a 1987 Sotheby's Geneva auction of jewels from the Duchess of Windsor collection.
Sotheby's describes the top offerings as a single-strand natural pearl and diamond necklace (est. $1.5 million to $2 million,) a natural pearl and diamond pendant (est. $400,000 to $600,000,) and a pair of black and white natural pearl and diamond earclips (est. $300,000 to $500,000.)
In the 20 years since the Windsor sale, few pieces from that incomparable collection have been re-offered at auction, and none as significant as the iconic natural pearls acquired by the Kleins. The pearls will be featured extensively worldwide in a pre-sale exhibition before the December sale.

Here for rest of story

[Caitlin]

That is about the most beautiful natural pearl necklace that I have ever seen. It is more perfectly matched than the Baroda pearls, one strand of which went for 7million, wasn't it? Then the pendent too. Those are some royal pearls!

[GemGeek]

I agree -- soooo elegant! I'd need to lose some weight before I could wear a 14" choker.

[knotty panda]

Yes, it is very pretty. Why are they knotted on black thread? Or is that a photographic fluke? The Baroda's were originally 7 strands then redesigned and owned by royalty. Perhaps the most beautiful of the 7 strands haven't been displayed. Plus, I just like their character. I doubt these will fetch as high a price.

[Slraep]

Originally Posted by knotty panda

If these pearls were part of the Crown Jewels, I'm surprised they let riff-raff like the Duchess make off with them.

Hi Knotty,

I wouldn't exactly brand the Duchess of Windsor as "riff-raff". Certainly she wasn't liked by the royal family, particularly the late Queen Mother, but she took good care of her David and he was the one that was doing most of the jewel procuring for her. Most all of her jewels were gifts purchased by her devoted husband. After her death, the jewellery collection was auctioned off and the proceeds donated to the Pasteur Institue as a gift to the French government(who treated the couple very well).

The Duchess did not make off with any jewels either. If she did have anything super important from the British royal collection, it would have been given back. After the death of the Duke, the Duchess was on passable turms with her husband's family. She returned many of the Duke's personal items to them. Much more than she needed to. She also gave away some jewels from her collection to Princess Michael
which included the Cartier "Cherries" brooch, huge cabochon emerald earrings and other pieces.

I think the paragraphs below tell the history of either one or the OTHER natural pearl strands the Duchess of Windsor was known to wear:

"In 1953, before Queen Mary's death, she made a gift of a natural pearl necklace to her son David. She obviously knew he would give it to Wallis."

The necklace was a choker made of 28 very large natural pearls with an oval diamond clasp. It sold in 1987(Sotheby's) for $733,333."

Personally, I doubt that Queen Mary, when giving the natural pearl strand to her son, said to herself, "Here, let me give this incredibly lovely and rare royal jewel to that "riff-raff" of a woman David is married to!". She meant to give Wallis the necklace as a gesture of goodwill, however little of it she had.

Slraep

[Casey.R]

what a beautiful necklace! She had a great collection. I saw some of her necklaces at an exhibit here in San Francisco.

[Caitlin]

I think a gift of jewels from an ex-king is still pretty royal- I eagerly await what it will fetch. I love that Queen Mary story and it looks like this necklace might be the one, doesn't it?. The one with the pendent has 28 pearls and a diamond clasp. She is clearly wearing two strand in the photo that look great together. The DoW's jewel collection is one of the most prestigious in the world ever collected by one woman and pieces of it are highly sought after and fetch the highest prices at auction.

Personally, I love the barooda necklace. I saw an article about it that listed which pearls off which strands went into the single strand. The single strand contains the cream of the crop. Although most of the pearls are still left, no other strand will be as fulsome as the one that sold recently.

I think it was strung with white thread- my question is what kind of glue is the pendent pearl adhered with?.

[DFrey]

"my question is what kind of glue is the pendent pearl adhered with?."

You know what they say about hair color, only her hairdresser knows for sure and I suspect its the same with the how and what of royal jewelry, only the jewellers knows for sure. And I'm sure they aren't telling.
DFrey

[pernula]

I wonder what type of natural pearls the necklace is composed of? South Sea?

The Baroda Pearls that was auctioned off is a double-strand, graduated necklace. See http://www.luxist.com/2007/03/24/chr...baroda-pearls/.

Regards,
Pernula

[knotty panda]

Thanks, Pernula, for pointing that out, about the double strand. I wondered about the kind of pearls, too. They are so huge! I wish we could get a closer look. Which Queen Mary did these belong to? I'm not up on royalty.

[Sueki]

Here you are Knotty.
Feast your eyes on this lot.
http://www.etoile.co.uk/Columns/RoyalScribe/050214.html
The Queen Mary in question was Princees May of Teck before her marriage to King George V ( grandson of Queen Victoria).

[Slraep]

Originally Posted by knotty panda

Which Queen Mary did these belong to? I'm not up on royalty.

Oh sorry, I thought I made the answer obvious. It's the Queen Mary that gave birth to the Duke of Windsor(David).

I'm re-quoting myself here: "In 1953, before Queen Mary's death, she made a gift of a natural pearl necklace to her son David. She obviously knew he would give it to Wallis."

Her full name is: Victoria Mary Augusta Louis Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes; Known as: Princess May. Later, Queen Mary.

Slraep

[Caitlin]

I was the one who posted the article on the Baroda sale, you'd think I'd remember it was a double! Details. details . The same still goes, whether single or double - it was cherry picked for the double.

[knotty panda]

Thanks, Slraep and Sueki: All these royal folks are hard for me to discern. So, do we know where she got them? I mean, we still don't know if they are south seas or possibly freshwater, right?

[Slraep]

Originally Posted by knotty panda

So, do we know where she got them? I mean, we still don't know if they are south seas or possibly freshwater, right?

Well, deducing from the two previous paragraphs I quoted, it seems really, really, really likely that the necklace comes from the Duchess' mother-in-law, since there aren't that many natural pearl chokers consisting of 28 huge spheroids with an oval platinum biggish-diamond encrusted clasp floating around out there.

I would bet that the pearls are oriental, just because of their size. I would tend to think freshwater if the strand were lengthy and the pearls size were smaller. But, anyone please, feel free to correct me if you know otherwise. I'm just guessing. I do know for sure though that the huge gorgeous pendant dangling off the choker was bought and given to the Duchess by her husband.

Slraep