Today marks the 80th Anniversary of the Birth of Princess Maud, Countess of Southesk, who passed away on this day in 1945! The granddaughter, niece and cousin of Kings, who married a Scottish Earl, Princess Maud possessed some spectacular Royal Heirlooms, including Queen Alexandra’s Amethyst Necklace!
Queen Alexandra’s Amethyst Tiara | Sapphire Necklace | Queen Alexandra’s Amethyst Necklace
A magnificent necklace of five hexagonal amethyst set within an ornate diamond frame, which was made around 1900.
The foliate garlands decorated with 5 hexagonal amethysts set as swing centers within circular wreaths, alternating with pear-shaped scrolls, set with 13 old European-cut diamonds weighing approximately 8.50 carats, 69 old European-cut diamonds weighing approximately 10.00 carats and numerous smaller old-mine and rose-cut diamonds weighing approximately 5.00 carats, mounted in silver and gold. Together with a wood box of octagonal shape stamped on the lid: The Property of Her Majesty The Late Queen Alexandra.
Queen Alexandra commissioned this magnificent Amethyst and Diamond Necklace around 1900 to complement an Amethyst and Diamond Tiara given to her as a gift from her brother-in-law, Tsar Alexander III of Russia, and sister, Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia. The then Princess of Wales had put sugarloaf-cabochon sapphires, a Silver Wedding Gift from the Tsar, into her Amethyst Tiara for the Wedding of her daughter, Princess Louise of Wales, and the Duke of Fife.
After Queen Alexandra’s death in 1925, and the Amethyst Tiara and accompanying Necklace, and the Sapphire Necklace, were inherited by the aforementioned Princess Louise, Duchess of Fife, who left them in 1931, to her younger daughter, Princess Maud, then Lady Maud Carnegie and later Countess of Southesk, who notably wore the Amethyst Tiara and Necklace for the Coronation of her cousin, King George VI in 1937.
In 1935, the Amethyst Tiara was among the Jewels displayed at an Exhibition of Russian Art in London, along with the Vladimir Sapphire Kokoshnik, Vladimir Fringe Tiara, Queen Olga’s Diamond Rivière, and Princess Mary’s Russian Sapphire Devant de Corsage.
After Princess Maud’s death in 1945, her Jewels were auctioned by trustees acting on behalf of her minor son, the future 3rd Duke of Fife. The Amethyst Tiara sold for £1750, while Queen Alexandra’s Sapphire Necklace sold for £4900, and the Diamond and Amethyst Necklace sold for £580. Several years later, the Necklace was ‘purchased from Wartski in 1958 as part of the collection of jewels of Queen Alexandra’.
In 1988, Queen Alexandra’s Amethyst and Diamond Necklace was auctioned at Sotheby’s in London, and was worn by philanthropist and socialite Ann Getty for a portrait in the 1990s.
After being displayed in the Tiaras Exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2002, when Geoffrey Munn stated that the ‘necklace, when supported on a frame, may also be worn as a tiara’, Queen Alexandra’s Amethyst and Diamond Necklace was worn by Kelley Johnson, wife of Don Johnson for a party in New York City in 2003, on loan from Ann Getty, at whose home the couple had gotten married.
Queen Alexandra’s Amethyst and Diamond Necklace was sold from the collection of Gordon and Ann Getty, at auction at Sotheby’s in New York in 2007, where it fetched $115,000, over an estimate of 50,000 – 70,000 USD. The current location of the Necklace is unknown.
Queen Alexandra’s Amethyst Tiara | Sapphire Necklace | Queen Alexandra’s Amethyst Necklace
Queen Alexandra’s Amethyst Tiara
Queen Alexandra’s Amethyst Necklace
Queen Alexandra’s Wedding Parure
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