What an intriguing find, Laura. I have tried to find some images relating to Lady Wavertree's jewels in the Australian and New Zealand newspaper - without success, but I suspect you have already tried searching those sources. I haven't tried the British newspapers, as I am sure you have done that. I hope that you or another poster has more luck. During my searches, I found reference to another auction, by Christie's in 1934, where it was reported that a diamond necklace belonging to Empress Josephine was sold. Neither reference I found seems to match the jewels of the Empress which you found. Although the first reference I found (for the auction in 1934) gave a very different description of a diamond necklace, I wonder if that necklace could be the same one which you have referred to? http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/141400677?searchTerm=%22Empress%20Josephine%22&searchLimits=exactPhrase=Empress+Josephine (Please see the last paragraph of the highlighted area) It is the description in the The Chronicle (South Australia) 8 March 1934. See http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/92356881?searchTerm=empress%20josephine&searchLimits=dateFrom=1934-03-01|||dateTo=1934-03-31 which makes me think there are similarities in the necklaces. The necklace auctioned by Lady Wavertree in 1933 would appear to have at least one less diamond than the necklace auctioned in 1934. The difficulty in determining if these might be the same necklace are manifold. I will leave other posters to read the descriptions and make their own judgements, as we all know that, from time to time, press reports are inaccurate. I noticed that the price for the jewels auctioned in 1933 and in 1934 seem vastly different. Lady Wavertree's tiara, necklace etc did not fetch as much as the single necklace, said to have belonged to the Empress, which was auctioned in 1934. Only photographic evidence or a detailed jeweller's/auction house report will solve the query we have, unless we can find photographic evidence. So far, I cannot find a photograph of Lady Wavertree wearing the jewels which she auctioned in 1933.
on October 7, 2014, 5:00 am, in reply to "