A diamond and emerald bracelet with a provenance connected to Irish royalty is currently on display at Hancocks London, at 62 St. James’s Street.
Dating to around 1890, the jewel (price on request) centers on a 5.67 ct. octagonal Colombian emerald, which is bordered by 12 old mine cut diamonds and framed within a surround of eight old European cut diamonds, each with diamond accents. The diamonds total 10.50 cts.
The bracelet was a gift to Lady Ethel Jane Foster, from her mother, on the occasion of her 1896 wedding to Lucius William O’Brien, eldest son of the 14th Baron Inchiquin. Lucius succeeded his father as Baron Inchiquin—one of the oldest titles in the Irish peerage—in 1900. The Barons Inchiquin were direct descendants of Brian Boru, who, as High King of Ireland from 1002 to 1014, was the last ruler to hold unified authority over the island.
With gemological credentials as strong as its lineage, the bangle’s center stone was designated an “exceptional emerald” in a rare appendix letter from SSEF, the Swiss Gemmological Institute. SSEF grants this label only to stones it considers to be in a category of their own. Its report notes that the emerald shows no indications of clarity modification, a meaningful distinction in a category where treatment is nearly universal. Size, color, and untreated clarity together at this level are, by any measure, unusual.
“Jewels of this caliber come to market very rarely, and to find a Colombian emerald of such quality with provenance connected to Irish nobility and set in such a beautifully crafted antique jewel is unheard of,” said Guy Burton, managing director of Hancocks London.
Prior to its acquisition by Hancocks, the bangle had remained in the O’Brien family for well over a century. It appeared in the will of Lady Ethel Inchiquin (who died in 1940), as her “large emerald and diamond bracelet given me by my mother on my marriage.”
(Photo courtesy of Hancocks London)
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