Ruby and diamond necklace/tiara combination, circa 1880

Designed as a slightly graduating row of florets alternately set in the centers with rubies and diamonds, supporting an all-around fringe of palmettes, the whole set with 23 cushion-shaped rubies and approximately 1665 old-mine diamonds, mounted in silver and gold, length 15 inches, palmettes and florets are numbered 1 through 23, necklace separates into segments, each palmette is detachable. Together with a tiara fitting. 



See also tiara illustration on fronticepiece. 

The Estate of Mrs. James H. Van Alen, Sotheby's New York, October 16, 2002, lot 146.