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Fine and Rare Wines
21 Nov 2009, San Francisco and Los Angeles |
Antique Arms and Armor and Modern Sporting Guns
23 Nov 2009, 220 San Bruno Avenue, San Francisco |
California and American Paintings and Sculpture
23 Nov 2009, Los Angeles and San Francisco |
Decorative Arts and Glass
24 Nov 2009, Chester |
Doulton and Beswick Wares
24 Nov 2009, Chester |
British and Continental Collectable Ceramics
24 Nov 2009, Chester |
20th Century Prints
24 Nov 2009, Chester |
Watches & Wristwatches
24 Nov 2009, Knightsbridge |
Clocks & Barometers
24 Nov 2009, Knightsbridge |
British & Continental Pictures
24 Nov 2009, Knightsbridge |
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Pearl Necklace Linked To Russia’s Catherine The Great And Anna Thomson Dodge
Sold For $600,000 At Bonhams
http://www.bonhams.com/jewelry
At Bonhams' prestigious salerooms on New York City's Madison Avenue, a magnificent
three-strand natural pearl necklace fetched $600,000. Comprising 224 pearls and
two Cartier diamond clasps, the necklace was owned by descendents of the founder
of the US motoring company, Dodge Automobiles.
In 1920, Michigan-born Horace E. Dodge bought the pearls from The House of Cartier
for his wife Anna Thomson Dodge in the belief that they had once belonged to Catherine
the Great, Empress of Russia.
The Michigan-born Horace Dodge was a self-made billionaire. A gifted mechanic,
he moved, in 1886, with his brother John to Detroit and later founded Dodge Automobiles
- a brand name that is recognised throughout the world today. For a time the Dodge
brothers built engines for Henry Ford in a deal that included a share position
in the new Ford Motor Company. When the brothers decided to sell their shares
to Henry Ford in 1919, each receiving US$12.5 million from the sale, Horace promised
to buy his wife Anna any "earthly thing she wanted". Anna - a Scottish
immigrant, born in Dundee - said that she wanted pearls.
Horace agreed and purchased a pearl necklace from Cartier. Anna is thought to
have worn the necklace just twice in her lifetime and one of those occasions was
for her daughter Delphine's wedding to H R Cromwell, the son of a prominent Philadelphia
banker. Anna is said to have dazzled some 3000 guests and the Detroit Symphony
Orchestra, who played throughout the reception.
Designed with versatility in mind, the necklace was originally made up of five
strands of pearls, which allowed its owner to change the combination and style
of the jewellery. Anna gave these pearls to her daughter Delphine, but on her
untimely death at the age of 44, the pearls reverted back to Anna. In 1968, Delphine's
daughter Yvonne acquired the pearls from Anna and subsequently divided the strands
amongst her friends and heirs. Three of these family members reunited their individual
natural pearl strands as one necklace for the Bonhams' auction.
Ever since 1920, when Horace Dodge first bought the pearls from Cartier there
has been much speculation over the necklace's early provenance. A Cartier sales
invoice to Horace E. Dodge, Esq, dated 24 May 1920, states that the "five
row pearl necklace, consisting of three hundred and eighty-nine (389) pearls weighing
forty-three hundred and five (4305) grains" was accompanied by an "enamel
clasp representing Catherine, Empress of Russia" and "two (2) diamond
alternate clasps". Many newspaper articles written in the early 1920s and
since then, including those from The New York Times and Detroit Times, have suggested
that the pearls once belonged to Catherine the Great and furthermore, the heirs
of Anna Thomson Dodge maintain that Horace bought the pearls from Cartier on that
basis.
"I fear the truth will always be shrouded in mystery," said Bonhams'
International Director of Jewellery Matthew Girling.
Whilst proof of a direct connection between the pearls and the Empress currently
remains inconclusive - despite research by Bonhams to uncover the necklace's early
provenance - it is a fact that in the early 1900s jewellery from Russian aristocrats
found its way onto the open market. Russian émigrés, fleeing the
Revolution, who had lost their land and fortune and whose funds were quickly exhausted
in foreign countries, had no other means to subsist than by selling the family
jewels their wives were able to carry with them in their flight. Russian royal
jewels found new owners in the wives of wealthy industrialists - many of them
American.
Throughout history pearls have always been considered precious. The Romans invaded
Britain for them and hundreds of years later Christopher Columbus sailed to the
New World to bring the gems back for the Spanish Treasury. They have been found
in Egyptian tombs and Chinese burial grounds and they've been loved and worn by
the Maharajas of India, Catherine the Great, Napoleon, and Queen Victoria, and
Coco Chanel.
"Pearls are never out of fashion. Current famous women wearing them include
Sarah Jessica Parker, Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow, Keira Knightley and Katherine
Heigl," adds Bonhams' Matthew Girling.
USA enquiries: Staci Smith on +1 212 644 9521, email: prny@bonhams.com or
Non-USA enquiries: Josephine Olley on +44 (0)207 468 8229, email: press@bonhams.com
Bonhams, founded in 1793, is one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. The present company was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son and Neale UK. In August 2002, the company acquired Butterfields, the principal firm of auctioneers on the West Coast of America and in August 2003, Goodmans, a leading Australian fine art and antiques auctioneer with salerooms in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, joined the Bonhams Group of Companies. Today, Bonhams offers more sales than any of its rivals, through two major salerooms in London: New Bond Street, and Knightsbridge, and a further seven throughout the UK. Sales are also held in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Boston in the USA; and Australia, Canada, Dubai, France, Hong Kong, Monaco and Switzerland . Bonhams has a worldwide network of offices and regional representatives in 25 countries offering sales advice and valuation services in 57 specialist areas. For a full listing of upcoming sales, plus details of Bonhams specialist departments, go to www.bonhams.com
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