Jewellery, Watches and Objects of Vertu

A Royal Presentation gold brooch/pendant and ear pendants, presented by Alexandra Princess of Wales, 1879, the circular brooch centred with a half pearl within star setting, with ropetwist and beaded decoration, and scalloped outer border, glazed locket verso, and engraved with presentation inscription: ‘From the Princess of Wales to Jeannie MacLean on her marriage 12th April 1879’, the ear pendants with pearl highlight within palmette borders, suspended from bead and hoop fittings, stamped ‘18ct’, the matched suite cased by Collingwood & Son, the silk stamped ‘COLLINGWOOD & SON / 46 CONDUIT STREET LONDON / JEWELLERS & SILVERSMITHS TO PRINCE & PRINCESS OF WALES & ALL THE ROYAL FAMILY’, brooch diameter 35mm, ear pendant length 27mm. £1,500-£2,000

Formerly the property of Jeannie Mackay (née MacLean).

Collingwood & Son of 46 Conduit Street was one of the best retail jewellers and goldsmiths in the Mayfair district. The company was founded in 1817 by Joseph Kitching, and by 1824 was trading under the name of Kitching & Abdul. The company moved to Conduit Street in 1830, and by 1837 were appointed ‘Jewellers to the Queen’. In 1870 the company took the name of Collingwood & Son, in 1876 changing to Collingwood & Co., and in 1924 to Collingwood Ltd.



Jeannie Mackay (neé MacLean)
Jeannie MacLean was born in Aberfeldy, Perthshire, Scotland in 1848.
The brooch and earrings in the above lot were presented to Jeannie MacLean by Alexandra, Princess of Wales, later Queen Alexandra, on the occasion of her marriage.
On 12 April 1879, Jeannie married Donald Mackay (1845-1893), son of Donald Mackay (1794-1850), from a family of distinguished Scottish bagpipers. His father Donald was piper to HRH The Duke of Sussex for 25 years and Donald’s uncle Angus Mackay (1813-1859) was the the first Piper to the Sovereign (Queen Victoria) between the years 1843-1854, a role established in 1843 by the Queen and Prince Albert, and a position which continues to this day.

A talented piper, Donald following in the family tradition. At 18 he won the champion gold medal of the Highland Society of London, being then piper to Ballindalloch, Inverness. For 8 years he held the appointment of piper to Sir George MacPherson Grant, and in 1873 succeeded to the position of the Prince of Wales’s piper.

In 1879, Jeannie MacLeod became Donald’s second wife, his first wife Elizabeth having died in 1876, leaving two daughters. Jeannie and Donald married in Westminster, and a further daughter, Catherine Jessie, was born in March 1880. The couple went on to have three further children.

In 1895, In 1895 Donald died of blood poisoning from a foot injury. He had completed 20 years of service to the Prince of Wales.
Donald’s obituary in the London paper Lloyd’s Weekly on 7 January 1893 read: ‘Funeral of the Prince of Wales’s piper: The Prince of Wales has sustained a great loss in Donald Mackay, his piper. Donald Mackay was considered the best piper in Great Britain, and frequently played before the Queen…. Beautiful wreaths were sent by the Prince and Princess of Wales, by whom Mackay’s loss is much regretted. The majority of the (Royal) household attended from Marlborough House, and both the Prince and Princess of Wales were represented’.


Jeannie Mackay was left a widow at the age of 45 with four children to support, plus her two step daughters from Donald’s first marriage.
A report in the South Wales Daily News, Cardiff, on 1 January, 1895, makes reference to Jeannie: ‘Prince’s Piper. …Mackay was a gallant piper and died through blood poisoning set up by a wound on his foot. He has been much regretted by the Prince and his family, and the piper’s widow is now a pensioner and well taken care of on the Sandringham estate’.
The census records of 1901 and 1911 show that Jeannie was in fact living at York Cottage at Sandringham and was employed as housekeeper. York Cottage was a large property in the grounds of Sandringham, used by George Duke of York, later George V, the eldest son of the Prince of Wales. In 1893, York Cottage had been given by the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII, as a wedding gift to his son who lived there with his wife, the future Queen Mary, after their marriage in 1893. Five of their six children were born there including the future King George VI.

Jeannie Mackay continued working in royal service at York Cottage through the later years of Queen Victoria’s reign, throughout Edward VII’s reign, (1901-1911), and into the reign of George V. In September 1914, she was awarded the Royal Household Long and Faithful Service Medal, G.V.R. (This civil decoration is awarded by the British monarch to servants of the royal household for long and faithful service for 20 cumulative years). Together with the Coronation silver medal of 1911, this medal group presented to Jeannie Mackay, the Royal Household Pair, was sold at auction at Morton & Eden, Lot 1458, sale 4 July 2019.

Jeannie Mackay died in 1925, aged 78. The three lots offered here for sale are from her personal collection and then by family descent.