DIX NOONAN WEBB TO SELL H.R.H. PRINCESS MARGARET’S CARTIER AQUAMARINE AND DIAMOND BROOCH

.R.H Princess Margaret’s aquamarine and diamond brooch by Cartier dating from 1932, purchased by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother from Cartier on January 23, 1947 for £175, will be offered for sale by Dix Noonan Webb in their auction of Jewellery, Watches and Objects of Vertu on Tuesday November 23, 2021 at their Mayfair saleroom (16 Bolton Street, London W1J 8BQ). Engraved with the ownership mark ‘M’ beneath Princess Margaret’s coronet, it is estimated to fetch £40,000-50,000.

The brooch was formerly from The Collection of Her Royal Highness, The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon and was sold at Christie’s in June 2006. 

As Frances Noble, Head of the Jewellery Department and Associate Director at Dix Noonan Webb, explains: “Princess Margaret’s love of brooches was evident throughout her life, and this particular brooch seems to have been a favourite, as there are numerous photographs of her wearing it throughout her life. Known for her sense of fashion and style, Princess Margaret always coordinated the brooch to match her outfits, seemingly always in shades of blue. In 1950, at the age of 20, she was photographed wearing this brooch with a stunning strapless ballgown in ice blue brocade, at a dance at the Dorchester Hotel.  On the Royal Tour of the Caribbean in 1958, we again see her wearing the brooch with a floral summer dress. In 1959, at the opening of an exhibition, the Bulletin newspaper reported Princess Margaret had pinned ‘a delicate ornament in aquamarines and diamonds’ to the side of her pale blue chiffon hat. She is seen again seen wearing the brooch in a charming photograph after the birth of her first child, David, in 1961, where she and Lord Snowdon are introducing the baby to his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.

Frances continues: “We are thrilled to be offering this particularly beautiful Cartier brooch in our November 23 auction, following on from the success earlier this year of the sale of Princess Margaret’s iconic Art Deco pearl and diamond bracelet, which she wore in her 19th birthday portrait by Cecil Beaton in 1949, and which subsequently sold at DNW for the astonishing price of £398,000. DNW have of course also sold this year the medals belonging to Group Captain Peter Townsend, for £260,000, who was famously romantically involved with Princess Margaret when she was 22 years old. Both these recent high prices confirm the strong interest currently at auction for items with a Royal provenance, in part probably due to the Netflix series The Crown, which has introduced a new younger audience to the stories and personalities of our Royal Family.”
 
Dix Noonan Webb holds four specialist Jewellery and Watches sales each year and the November sale includes several pieces by Cartier including an aquamarine line bracelet circa 1940, which is expected to fetch £12,000-15,000; a delightful diamond and onyx lovebirds brooch, circa 1960, estimated at £5,000-7,000 and a diamond and sapphire owl brooch, circa 1950, at a similar estimate.  

Other items of interest in the sale include a 19th century amethyst cross pendant, formerly the property of Edith Vane-Tempest-Stewart, Marchioness of Londonderry, which is estimated at £3,000-4,000.

Two interesting and rare early gold rings, all detectorist finds, are included in the sale: a late 12th/early 13th century gold ring, detailed with a cross pattee clechy, is estimated to fetch £6,000-8,000. The ring was found on July 28, 2018 in a ploughed field at a depth of 15cm near Saxmundham, Suffolk. Only two other similar examples are recorded and these are both in silver, it was discovered close to an Abbey dating from 1182, founded by Ranulf de Glanville, Chief Justician to Henry II, and the nearby church of St Mary’s is recorded in the Domesday Book. The Abbey was a religious house of White Canons dedicated to St Mary.

Also, a late 13th/early 14th century gold and garnet posy ring, centred with an oval small cabochon almandine garnet is estimated at £4,000-6,000. Found in August 2019 in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, it was discovered after six hours of finding nothing and the finder was about to leave when he got a slight signal which he initially left but then came back and found the ring at a depth of 5cm. He was so shocked he fell backwards into the muddy field! The find spot was close to a Norman manor house recorded in the Domesday book which was occupied by the Boothby family and in the 14th century, the Paynells.

Other items of interest include an Art Nouveau plique-à-jour enamel pendant by Georges Le Turcq, circa 1900, estimated at £800-1200 and a Rolex stainless steel automatic Submariner wristwatch, Ref 16610, circa 1998, expected to sell for £3,000-5,000.