Posted by Arthur on July 21, 2014, 9:10 pm, in reply to "Indian pearls"
Well spotted, Baxter! Thank you! I think you are on the right track about the 222 pearl necklace. I had not thought of making the addition, but the result is too perfect to be only a mere coincidence! So we can conclude with a 99% probability that the two-row pearl necklace with a ruby clasp mentioned in Field has been made from the four-row pearl necklace bequeathed to the Crown by Queen Victoria.
Now, can this necklace be the one worn by the Queen at Covent Garden in October 2012? That is possible, but when I try to count the pearls, including the third longer row, I still not reach 222 pearls (just approximately 165): I may have missed a few small pearls interspersed between larger pearls, or some of the pearls may have been removed when the necklace was reset in 1941.
The two-row pearl necklace worn by Queen Elizabeth II on the pictures you have posted is indeed neither the Hanoverian pearl necklace (HPN), nor Queen Anne and Queen Caroline’s pearl necklaces (QAQCPN). It is another two-row pearl necklace that the Queen has been seen wearing since (at least) the 1980ies, but on whose origin I have no information. I do not remember of a picture of the previous British Queens wearing a necklace with the same characteristics.
(BTW, Baxter, I think it is not this necklace on the pictures of the Queen with a white dress, but the “Indian” pearl necklace with the ruby clasp)
The characteristics of this necklace, which enable to differentiate it from the other two-row pearl necklaces in the Queen’s collection, are: - the pearls are strongly graduated, i.e. ranked by order of size (small pearls at the back, bigger pearls at the front) (the HPN is graduated, but more slightly, and QAQCPN is not graduated) - the necklace hangs rather low (approximately the same length as the longer row of the HPN) (QAQCPN is shorter) and has a distinctive V-shape (the HPN and QAQCPN are rounder) - the two rows are very close to each other (which is the main difference to the HPN, on which the two rows are spaced out by a few centimetres). I don’t think I have ever seen the clasp of this necklace.
Here are a few more pictures of this necklace, that I personally call “Queen Elizabeth II’s two-row large graduated pearl necklace”
For the Christmas broadcasts in 1983, 1984 and 1985:
Portrait in the 1980s :
Trooping the Colour, 1989:
Ascot races, circa 1995:
Reception and dinner for Worshipful Companies to mark the 90th birthday of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh at Fishmongers’ Hall, London, on June 28, 2011 (on the second picture, we can clearly see the strong graduation of the pearls of this necklace):
Official portrait, by Shaun Murawski, 2011:
Royal Festival of Remembrance, November 10, 2012:
--Previous Message-- : : Field describes a 222-pearl necklace with a : ruby clasp. Meylan lists a four-row pearl : necklace of 55, 55, 56 and 56 pearls (which : equals 222). Both state Punjab was the : source of the pearls. Menkes lists 'Four : strand pearls from treasury at Lahore . . . : with ruby snap' and also says they were : reset in 1941. : : So perhaps the two strands with ruby clasp : worn to Covent Garden could be half of the : Indian pearls with the longer strand being : part of the lot as well. : : Whatever the source, here are photos of the : Queen wearing a double strand pearl necklace : which is neither the Queen Anne/Queen : Caroline pearls nor the Hanoverian pearls. : : : Note that at the Festival of Remembrance HM : also wore the necklace with the ruby : earrings. : : : The bottom strand of the double rows have : tiny pearls alternating with the larger ones : toward the back. : : : : However I'm not certain this a ruby clasp or : something else. : :
on July 21, 2014, 9:10 pm, in reply to "
