LIVE24SEVEN // Valentine’s Day


Romance Goes Under The Hammer


BY BRYONY MEREDITH, HEAD OF JEWELLERY AT FELLOWS AUCTIONEERS


There is no doubt that jewellery is an immensely personal possession and, for me, one thing I truly love about working in the jewellery industry is discovering the stories behind each antique jewel we handle. The secrets a jewel holds are often never to be discovered, but occasionally clues are left behind in antique pieces of jewellery for future generations to understand and enjoy.


Here at Fellows we sometimes come across a brooch or a ring that at first glance may appear to be simply another beautifully set multi-gem piece of jewellery. However, sometimes this jewel holds a hidden message of love.


diamond) was a well-loved secret message displayed in loving gifted rings and brooches.


An example is this ring, which featured in an auction of Jewellery on 9th October 2014. Look at the gems that are set in the ring – diamond, emerald, amethyst, ruby, emerald, sapphire, topaz. A handsome arrangement certainly, but not only this: the first letter of each gemstone spells out a message to the heart… DEAREST.


This language of gems has been used for many years in personal love tokens manifested in beautiful jewels. It was a firm favourite of Napoleon and wife Empress Marie-Louise who commissioned several acrostic bracelets that celebrated events in the pair’s lives, such as their wedding date and respective birthdays.


During the sentimental Victorian years, such jewels became very popular and along with ‘dearest’, ‘regard’ (ruby, emerald, garnet, amethyst, ruby,


At Fellows, we frequently see the honour accompanying highly prized Regimental jewellery that was worn with pride, as symbols of status. We also see the cherished tokens of affection, gifted by loved ones with personal inscriptions carefully engraved to the inside band of a ring for example, forever telling a story of eternal love. It is rare, however, that these two types of jewellery merge…


The regimental brooch that featured in our forthcoming auction of Antique & Modern Jewellery held a heart-breaking tale behind its glittering diamonds. The brooch was gifted in 1944 by Major Geoffrey Blake Turgood, an officer in the Assam Regiment, to his sweetheart Muriel Elizabeth ‘Bunty’ Thompson, unusually to mark their engagement. The engagement announcement was made in the Indian Army magazine at the time.


Tragically, the Major was killed in Burma


shortly afterwards and the brooch was treasured but never worn again. The sale gave a great chance for this fascinating piece to have a new lease of life and an opportunity for a collector to treasure this immaculate brooch it in a different way.


FELLOWS


Augusta House, 19 Augusta Street, Birmingham. B18 6JA


T. 0121 212 2131 WWW.FELLOWS.CO.UK


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