RUBY AND DIAMOND DOUBLE-CLIP BROOCH | 紅寶石配鑽石別針

Property from a Private Collection, Texas

RUBY AND DIAMOND DOUBLE-CLIP BROOCH

紅寶石配鑽石別針

Designed as opposing sarpeches, featuring a graduated line of sugarloaf cabochon rubies, framed with old European, single-cut and baguette diamonds; circa 1935.

The brooch offered here was in the collection of Ailisa Mellon Bruce (1901-1969), a beautiful and prominent figure in American society who came of age when entertaining was an important and influential art. She was the daughter of Andrew W. Mellon and, after his divorce from her mother, Nora May, she served as her father’s hostess during his tenure as US Ambassador to the UK. It was during this period that she developed a friendship with the Duke of Windsor, then Prince Edward, who, according to family legend, bestowed upon her this brooch, purportedly from Cartier. It is unknown if their relationship had been a romantic one, but she was courted by Prince Otto Bismark and ultimately married David Bruce, the scion of a prominent American family.

In 1957, when Fortune prepared its first list of the wealthiest Americans, Ailsa Mellon Bruce, and her only sibling Paul, were among the eight richest people in the United States. The consignor’s family developed a close relationship with the Mellon family through business and travel, and the piece was gifted to her mother as a memento of friendship.