A South Australian Silver Wedding Gift to the Princess of Wales 1889Archived Message
Posted by LauraM on April 6, 2014, 5:59 pm
In honour of the upcoming Royal Visit to New Zealand and Australia, I thought I would share this information about a valuable jewellery gift from the the Ladies of South Australia to the Princess of Wales in 1889.
The present consisted of a necklet made from South Australian gold, South Australian rubies and Brazilian diamonds. The collarette consisted of twenty-five links each set with three three Australian rubies and four Brazilian diamonds. Suspended from the collarette was "an exquisite pendant, attached by two pieces of cable chain, and sustaining two cornucopias. A beautifully-chased shell occupies the space between these, and in the centre a very large ruby surmounts six diamonds, and close by three pretty-coloured rubies hand in claw settings, a diamond surmounting the centre one. The set is completed by a pair of South Australian gold and ruby bangles,each one containing eleven very large rubies and twenty diamonds."
It sounds like a very Victorian piece! The bangles may be more wearable today.
I also read that supposedly the then Princess of Wales had a tiara with Australian rubies.
Sources: The Sydney Morning Herald 4 Feb 1889; The South Australian Register 4 Feb 1889.