Pearl jewelry among
Princess Margaret's collection of Jewels
Among Princess Margaret's collection of jewelry and
Faberge, consisting of around 200 pieces, that went under the hammer on
June 13, 2006, at a Christie's auction in London, there were at least 25
pieces incorporating pearls, both natural and cultured. Out of these, 15
pieces contained cultured pearls. This webpage is dedicated to two of
these pieces containing cultured pearls :-
1) Lot 16 - A Cultured Pearl Jabot-Pin
2) Lot18 - A Coral and Cultured Pearl Bracelet
1) A Cultured Pearl
Jabot Pin - Lot 16
What is a jabot-pin ?
"Jabot" (pronounced zhah-Bow) in French means
"ruffle," an ornamental cloth frill, formerly worn by men in front of a shirt or by women in front
of a blouse, in the chest region. A "jabot-pin" originally served a dual
purpose, of securing the jabot on to the shirt or blouse, and serving as
an ornament like a brooch. Thus, the "jabot-pin" performs the function
of a tie-pin as well as a brooch. It can be described as a type of
brooch, with a central pin, that joins two ornamental terminals, one at
each end of the stem. One of the terminals can be removed, enabling the
pointed end of the pin to pass through the fabric for attachment. The
pointed end of the stem that passes under the fabric, is again brought
up above the fabric, after a short distance determined by the length of
the pin, and the terminal again attached. Thus, when the jabot-pin is
worn, the pin stem is hidden, and the two terminals appear separated by
fabric. Another name for a "jabot-pin" is "cliquet-pin."
Some of the common
designs used for the terminals of a jabot-pin
Designs used for the terminals of a jabot-pin are unlimited, depending
on the creative imagination of the jewelry designer. Usually the theme
used for the two terminals are related to one another.
Eg.1 - While one terminal represents the head of an
arrow, the other terminal
represents its tail.
Edwardian Diamond Arrow Jabot Pin
©
Pastera
Eg.2 - Hunting designs :- While one terminal
represents a fox on the run, the other terminal represents a huntsman
upon a galloping horse, pursuing the fox.
Fox Hunting Diamond Enameled Jabot Pin
©Georgian
Jewelry.COM
Purchase the item above
Eg.3 - One terminal represents
an animal or bird being hunted and the other end a hunting dog giving
chase.
Photo External Link
Eg.4 - Geometric designs :- One terminal can represent a larger
circle or square set with gemstones, and the other, a smaller circle or
square set with similar gemstones.
A French Art Deco Diamond and Ruby Jabot Pin by
Cartier
© Christie's
Art Deco Jadeite and Diamond Jabot Pin
© Christie's
Eg.5 - Victorian Sword motif - One
terminal representing the pointed end of a sword, and the other its
gem-set handle.
Eg.6 - Nail motif - One terminal representing the head of
the nail and the other its pointed end.
A 19th Century Diamond Nail Jabot Pin
© Christie's
Eg.7 - Sporting motif - Golf Club motif - While one
terminal represents the straight handle of the golf club, the other
terminal represents the curved base of the club.
Golf Club Platinum, Diamond and Onyx Jabot Pin
©
A La Vieille Russie
Cultured Pearl Butterfly Jabot-Pin
© Christie's
Features of the
butterfly jabot-pin
Princess Margaret's Cultured Pearl Jabot Pin is
designed as a stylized butterfly, but unlike other jabot pins the design
of the two terminals do not match. While one terminal represents the
stylized butterfly, the other terminal is bell-shaped. A single cultured
pearl set in the middle of the butterfly represents its body. The pin is
6.4 cm long, and the two terminals are connected by a long safety chain.
The metal used on the pin is not known. The single spherical white
cultured pearl, may be an Akoya or South Sea Pearl.
The jabot-pin
registers a price 100 times higher than the pre-sale estimate, at the
Christie's London sale of Princess Margaret's jewels
The cultured pearl, butterfly jabot-pin were among
the modest items in Princess Margaret's extraordinary jewelry
collection, that came up for sale at the Chistie's London auctions held
on June 13, 2006. The pre-sale estimate of this humble piece of jewelry
was placed at a value as low as £60. The item was
Lot No.16 at the sale. It had no historical or material value. But, the
unprecedented demand for items in the jewelry collection, with bidders
vying with each other, to own a piece used and cherished by a Princess,
whom they loved, adored and respected, did not exclude this humble item
of jewelry. After a keenly contested bidding, even this simple piece of
jewelry, fetched an enhanced price of £6,000, one hundred times higher
than the pre-sale estimate of £60. The
enhanced price realized was clearly attributed to the popularity of the
Princess, and the love and respect with which she was held, by the
people, a factor that was referred to as the "princess' premium." In
this instance, provenance had a much greater value than the actual
material value of the item. £60 is the actual material value of the
jabot-pin, the balance £5,940 is the
value of the provenance, by which the price was enhanced.
2) A Coral and
Cultured Pearl Bracelet - Lot 18
Both corals and
pearls are organic gemstones derived from living organisms, corals from
Anthozoan polyps and pearls from Bivalve Mollusks.
The Coral and Cultured Pearl Bracelet in Princess
Margaret's collection, is a unique piece of jewelry, as it is composed
of gemstones both of which are organic in origin; corals developing from
colonies of Anthozoan polyps, belonging to Phylum Cnidaria, living in shallow and fairly deep ocean
waters; and pearls developing from saltwater oysters, belonging to
bivalve Mollusca, also living in shallow to deep ocean waters. Corals
are actually colonies of thousands of individual polyps, and can take
different morphological forms depending on the species. The Bamboo Coral
for eg. grows and branches like a tree at the bottom of the sea, fixed
to a solid substrate. Bivalve Mollusks on the other hand are single
individuals, but usually live together in gregarious communities, in
oyster beds, sometimes attached to the solid substrate by byssal
threads. On an evolutionary scale, though both Phyla are invertebrates,
Phylum Cnidaria are at a very low level of evolution than the more
advanced Phylum Mollusca, which has developed organ systems, such as a
digestive, respiratory, circulatory, excretory, nervous, and
reproductive systems. Among the Phylum Mollusca, the Cephalopods, like
Squids and Octopus have well developed nervous systems, reaching
the height of complexity in Octopus, believed to be the most intelligent
of all invertebrates. They also have complex eyes with specialized
polarization vision, that enables to locate and capture transparent prey
in the surrounding water.
Corals and Pearls are
made of identical chemical substances, calcium carbonate and conchiolin
However, the interesting fact about corals and
pearls, are that both of them are made of almost identical materials.
While pearls are composed of calcium carbonate in the form of aragonite
and calcite and a protein component known as conchiolin, corals can be
of two types, Calcareous Corals and Conchiolin Corals. In calcareous
corals, calcium carbonate in the form of calcite predominates over the
protein component, conchiolin. In conchiolin corals, the protein
component conchiolin predominates over the calcium carbonate component
calcite or aragonite. Thus, calcareous corals are harder and more
suitable for jewelry, than conchiolin corals. The most commonly used
coral species for jewelry Corallium rubrum (red coral found in the
Mediterranean) and Corallium japonicum (red coral found in the Sea of
Japan), are both calcareous corals, and also referred to as precious
corals.
Features of the
bracelet
The bracelet, which is 19.4 cm long, consists of four
strands. The strands are made up of red coral beads and white cultured
pearls. Since their are more coral beads than pearls in each strand, the
strands are actually considered as coral bead strands, with cultured
pearls being considered as spacers, placed at regular intervals. A
cultured pearl spacer is placed after every three corals, and each
strand begins with a cultured pearl and ends with a cultured pearl. In
each strand there are 18 red coral beads and 7 white spherical cultured
pearls. Thus altogether, there are 72 red coral beads and 28 white
cultured pearls on all the four strands. Besides there is a row of three
additional pearls at each end of the bracelet, and a single cultured
pearl on the openwork clasp, making a total of 35 spherical white
cultured pearls.
As cultured pearls are placed at regular intervals,
and coral beads and cultured pearls have a uniform diameter, in the
bracelet, the cultured pearls in different strands come to lie one above
the other, almost in a vertical straight line. Even the red coral beads
in different stands, are aligned with one another in approximately
vertical straight lines. The cultured pearls are white, spherical
pearls, with uniform diameter, and appear to be Akoya pearls.
The openwork clasp at one end of the bracelet, is set
with a single large white spherical cultured pearl in the center,
slightly bigger in diameter than all other spherical pearls on the
bracelet. Other areas of the openwork clasp are set with tiny seed
pearls.
Coral and Cultured Pearl Bracelet
© Christie's
Red corals used in the bracelet
originated from either Corallium rubrum or Corallium japonicum
The best red corals are obtained either from the Mediterranean red coral
species Corallium rubrum or the red coral species from the Sea of Japan,
Corallium japonicum, both of which are calcareous corals. Going by the
uniformity of the red color in the coral beads of the bracelet, and the
fact that the intensity of the red color had been maintained for quite a
long period, one can assume safely, that the red coral beads in the
bracelet originated from none other than the well known red coral
species, Corallium rubrum, found mainly in the Mediterranean Sea or
Corallium japonicum, found in the Sea of Japan.
Precious Coral or Red Coral
(Corallium
rubrum )
Photo above,
Creative commons
Red and Pink Coral used to make Jewelry.
The depletion of red corals by
overexploitation has led to the use of cheaper and more readily
available substitutes such as sponge corals and bamboo corals
Corals grow at depths of 8 meters (25 feet) to about 300 meters
(1,000 feet). However, corals growing in deeper waters are of better
color and quality. Coral species of the Mediterranean Sea and Sea of
Japan, are seriously depleted, due to overexploitation as a result of
the greater demand for them in the jewelry industry. Therefore, jewelers
have now resorted to cheaper and more readily available alternatives,
such as bamboo coral (Keratoisis
profunda) and sponge coral (Eunicella verrucosa). However both types of
corals have to be dyed and processed to give the same attractive look as
red corals. Sponge corals, being very porous are first stabilized by
impregnating with resins or epoxies, and then dyed to enhance the red
color. It is then cut and polished usually as a cabochon or converted
into a bead by drilling. Bamboo coral, which is smoother than sponge
coral, is usually white in color, and are dyed red before processing.
Both substitutes have their disadvantages such as brown swirls appearing
in sponge corals, originating from naturally occurring brown patches and
non-uniformity in red color and appearance of naturally occurring black
spots in bamboo corals. The use of sponge and bamboo corals in jewelry
is accepted, provided their use is revealed to the customer.
Dyed and Polished Fragments of Bamboo Coral
Photo above,
Creative commons
Dyed and Polished Sponge Coral Beads
Photo above,
Creative commons
White Bamboo corals and Yellow Crinoids growing on
rocks at the bottom of the sea in the Gulf of Alaska.
Large Branching Bamboo Corals
The variety of colors in which corals
exist, and the tropical warm conditions in which they survive
Apart from
the much desired shades of red color, corals also exist in a variety of
other colors, such as white, black, blue, lavender, orange and pink.
Black corals, also much sought after like red corals, were found off the
coast of Mexico, but are now depleted due to overexploitation. Hawaiian
black corals also used in ornamentation, is not mineralized and belong
to the conchiolin corals. Corals
are extremely sensitive to environmental conditions, such as temperature
of the water, and the amount of sunlight that reaches the coral
deposits. They usually thrive in warm waters, hence their existence is
restricted only to the tropical seas, such as the Mediterranean Sea, the
tropical waters of the Atlantic, including the Caribbean, the tropical
waters of the Pacific, and Indian Oceans.
Harvesting and processing of corals, into
cabochon-cut gemstones, or beads
Corals are
harvested manually by divers, who collect them from the sea bed. After
the corals are brought to the surface, they are examined carefully, and
sorted according to quality. Pieces of corals without any flaws, such as
cracks and fissures are the most sought after and expensive. Lesser
quality corals can also be used in jewelry, after special treatment to
cover the flaws. Corals are stabilized by impregnating with resins and
epoxies. They are then, either bleached to create white coral or dyed to
impart or enhance the color of the specimen. It is then cut and
polished. The polishing of corals transforms them from a natural
matte-like appearance to a glossy finish. Corals being opaque or translucent gemstones, are generally
cut en cabochon with a convex surface. They may also be cut and polished
and drilled into beads, for stringing, to produce necklaces or
bracelets, either singly or in combination with other gemstones, such as
pearls, turquoise etc.
Coral substitutes
The great demand for red coral jewelry, coupled with their scarce
availability, have not only given rise to cheaper alternatives, such as
bamboo coral and sponge coral, but also to cheaper substitutes, made out
of glass, porcelain, plastic and dyed bone. Thus it is important that
one should be able to distinguish between the original red coral and
their cheaper substitutes. One way of doing this is to look for the
unique wood grain structure in corals, which is absent on the fakes.
The earliest uses of
pearls and corals by ancient man
Corals and pearls, both gems of organic origin are
among the first gemstones used in ornamentation by man. Pearls when
discovered from the oysters are already in a finished form, with their
natural luster, brilliance and orient, and needs minimum intervention by
man, before being used as ornaments. Mother-of-pearls were more often
used in ornamentation than pearls, because of their ready availability
than pearls, which were very scarce. One of the earliest uses of pearls
discovered by archaeologists, comes from the Persian Gulf region, the
most ancient source of pearls in the world, where almost 6,000 years ago
people were buried with a pierced pearl in their right hand.
Mesopotamian civilization (3,000-2,000 B.C.) over 5,000 years ago appear
to be the first civilization in which the beauty and value of pearls
were first appreciated. Likewise even coral jewelry has been found in
prehistoric European burial sites, as well as ancient Egyptian (3,000 to
1,000 B.C.) burial sites.
Mystical and
supernatural powers associated with corals
Since very ancient times mystical and supernatural
powers were associated with corals, particularly red corals found in the
Mediterranean Sea. The Gauls used red corals for ornamentation of their
person and the weapons of war and helmets, believing in their mystical
powers to protect them from injury. The Romans strung together pieces of
red corals to form necklaces, that were hung around their children's
necks, to ward off danger and disease. From ancient times up to the
medieval period, and in some countries even up to the contemporary
period, people believed in the potency of corals as charms, to bring
good luck and protect from misfortune, to prevent and cure diseases, to
increase fertility and life expectancy and to save a person from the
harm caused by snake and scorpion bites. Corals were also worn as a
protective amulet against magic and charms of enemies., and in Italy
early in the 20th-century as a preservative from the evil eye, and by
females as a cure for sterility.
Rivalry among
European nations for control of the coral resources of the African coast
of the Mediterranean
The demand for corals in Europe was so great, that
control of the coral fisheries of the African coast of the Mediterranean
became a cause for increased rivalry and wars between European nations,
such as Italy, Spain, France and Britain. The fisheries came under
the control of these nations in turn, starting from the middle ages, up
to the 20th century. Prior to the French revolution, the coral trade,
procuring and processing of corals, and manufacture of coral jewelry was
mainly centered around Marseilles in France. After the French
revolution, the center of the coral trade and industry shifted to the
Italian cities of Naples, Rome and Genoa. The continuous exploitation of
the coral resources of the Mediterranean for several centuries, led to
the depletion of resources, from which the coral beds have not yet fully
recovered.
Sale of the Coral and
Cultured Pearl Bracelet - Lot 18
Princess Margaret's Coral and Cultured Pearl Bracelet
was Lot No. 18, at the Christie's Historic London Sale, of the Princess'
jewelry collection, held on June 13, 2006. The pre-sale estimate placed
on this piece of jewelry was a modest £300 to £400,
but in keeping with enhanced trend shown at this auction, with prices of
some items surging over 100 fold, the price realized for this piece was
£14,400 ($26,496), 36 times the upper estimate. Again provenance was the
major component of the final selling price of this modest piece of
jewelry.
You are welcome to discuss this
post/related topics with Dr Shihaan and other experts from around the
world in our
FORUMS (forums.internetstones.com)
Related :-
1)
Cultured Pearl Necklace and Earclips from Princess
Margaret's collection
2)
Princess Margaret's Five Row Art Deco Pearl And
Diamond Necklace
External Links :-
1) Christie's Sale 7335 - Sale Catalogue, Lot No.16 -
A Coral And Cultured Pearl Bracelet.
www.christies.com/lotfinder
2) Christie's Sale 7335 - Sale Catalogue, Lot No.16 -
A Coral and Cultured Pearl Bracelet
http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?pos=8&intObjectID=4718006&sid=
References :-
1) Christie's Sale 7335 - Sale Catalogue, Lot No.18 -
A Coral And Cultured Pearl Bracelet.
www.christies.com/lotfinder
2) Christie's Sale 7335 - Sale Catalogue, Lot No.16 -
A Cultured Pearl Jabot Pin.
www.christies.com/lotfinder
3) Coral Jewelry - www.turquoisejewelry.com
4) The Beauty of Coral Jewelry - www.buzzle.com
5) Precious coral - From Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia
6) A French Art Deco Diamond and Ruby Jabot Pin -
Christie's London sale 5385, December 9, 2008. www.christies.com
7) Golf Club Platinum, Diamond and Onyx Jabot Pin - A
La Vieille Russie. www.alvr.com
8) Edwardian Diamond Arrow Jabot Pin - Past Era Fine
Antique & Estate Jewelry. www,pastera.com
9) A Edwardian Hunting Jabot Pin -
www.liveauctioneers.com
10) An Art Deco Jadeite And Diamond Jabot Pin - Lot
No.128 - Christie's Magnificent Jewels Sale, No.1304, Geneva.
www.christies.com
11) A Late 19th Century Diamond Jabot Pin -
Christie's London Sale 5893, Jewels at South Kensington.
www.christiesinternational.com
12) Sporting Jewelry Extraordinaire - Diamond Enamel
Jabot Pin - The Three Graces, An Investment for a Lifetime.
www.georgianjewelry.com
