Posted by Baxter on July 23, 2014, 9:24 am, in reply to "Re: Indian pearls"
Arthur, the photos you posted are of a different necklace than the panel in my previous post. This necklace has a few oblong or even slightly bouton shaped pearls. As you mention, they are much more graduated in size and the two rows are more closely nested that the other necklace.
This is purely speculation on my part, but I refer to these as the Kuwaiti pearls. We know that HM received a double strand in Kuwait during the Gulf tour in 1979, and the first appearance I can find for this necklace was a few months afterwards during Royal Ascot where it was worn at least twice during that week. Of course my claim would be bolstered if the pearls were worn during a Kuwaiti visit but I have not found any photos where that occurred.
The necklace was worn mostly during daytime events throughout the 1980's and into the next decade, but seemed to have disappeared during the 14 years between 1997 (purple dress below) and 2011 when it was worn to Fishmongers' Hall.
This is the best I could do with the clasp:
Here are a couple of comparisons showing these pearls and the strands featured in my previous post.