Important and rare, pearl and diamond brooch, Mid 19th Century - Sotheby's

Set to the surmount with an old mine diamond weighing 7.86 carats to a cut-down collet, suspending a natural pearl drop to a rose-cut, and old mine diamond cupola mount, pearl drop detachable, fitted case by Garrard & Co. Ltd. Goldsmiths, Jewellers. &c, To The King, By Special Appointment, To The Crown. 24 Albemarle St. W. Lot Sold: 900,200 CHF

PROPERTY OF A NOBLE FAMILY

Accompanied by GIA report no. 16381799, stating that the diamond is F Colour, SI1 Clarity. Further accompanied by a GIA type classification report, stating that the stone is a Type IIa diamond.
Accompanied by The Precious Stone Laboratory report no. 984506, stating that the pearl is natural.

NOTE: 'Golconda' is a name steeped in the annuls of diamond lore. The name of a now ruined fortress which originally served as a commercial trading centre, some days distant from the historic Indian mines of Ramalakota, Kollur and Soumelpour. The term 'Golconda' has now survived to describe the historic diamonds peculiar to India of great limpidity and purity. These diamonds are from the famed "First water" mines, which produced the world's most spectacular diamonds, such as the The Koh-I-Noor, The Hope and The Agra. This beautiful stone, with its appealing antique cut, is a member of the rare Type IIa group of diamonds known for their extreme purity, qualities compared so often throughout history to pure crystallized water. Scientifically this purity is due to the absence of nitrogen, producing stones often said to be beyond white.
Pearls, one of nature's great wonders have puzzled some of the wisest figures of antiquity. Valentin held that they where the eggs of female oysters, while Pliny thought them as the production of the dew. Prized since antiquity, the Romans held them in great esteem; whilst Cleopatra, is said to have taken a pearl from her ear and dissolved it in a glass of wine at a banquet held in honour of Mark Anthony. Today we understand that the pearl is formed by the oyster in an attempt to coat an irritant inside the shell in calcareous material, also known as nacre. One of the most famous pearls 'La Peregrina' found by a slave in the Gulf of Panama in the 16th Century was presented to Ferdinand V and became part of the Spanish treasury in 1513. In 1554 it was presented to Mary Tudor by her fiancée Phillip II, after passing through a succession of owners it was sold to the Marquis of Abercorn, finally being sold to Richard Burton in 1969 who purchased it for Elizabeth Taylor from Sotheby's Geneva. In November 2007 Sotheby's New York sold a natural pearl drop from the collection of Kelly & Calvin Klein, formerly from the collection of the Duchess of Windsor. This had originally belonged to Mary of Teck, Queen consort of George V of Great Britain, and sold for $420,000.

Sotheby's. Magnificent Jewels, Noble Jewels and Jewels from the Collection of Lily Marinho. Geneva | 15 May 2008 - www.sothebys.com