Magnificent Antique Coral Necklace in Three Rows, c. 1900

Every August, the Baroness von Üchtlitz celebrated her birthday at Schlochtin with a summer fête. Beside the castle, on the great meadow, stood a small grove of lime trees: "that was where tea was to be taken." The meadow and the grove were full of people, full of colourful dresses, ribbons and hats, and in the green of the trees, in the gold of the afternoon sun, all those colours took on a gem-like brilliance. The two young princesses of Neustatt-Birkenstein arrived in their landau. They wore "blue summer dresses and strings of coral around their necks." In his last great novel, "Fürstinnen" (1917), Eduard von Keyserling once more conjured up the splendour and brilliance of the old aristocracy — yet with every ray of sunlight, the approaching end of that familiar order already shone through. At the Baroness’s summer fête it was perfectly natural to wear coral necklaces, for these jewels of the sea were considered quintessential summer adornments at the turn of the century. The present three-row necklace is just such a piece of jewellery as the princesses of Neustatt-Birkenstein might have worn. It was probably made in Italy around 1900 and displays its strong, salmon-red, high-quality corals graduated in size. A pretty original tombac clasp holds the necklace securely. The piece found its way to us here in Berlin.

Estimate:£1,076.28

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