Nancy Astor's brooch

10th October 2024

A brooch that graced the breast of Britain’s first female MP is expected to make up to £20,000 at auction this month.

The pearl and diamond brooch (lot 786) was the property of Nancy, Viscountess Astor who served as the Conservative MP for Plymouth for 25 years, campaigning for women’s rights and educational reform.

A photograph exists of Lady Astor wearing the brooch, taken by Emil Otto Hoppé in 1917, two years before she was elected to Parliament. In it, she also wears the Astor Tiara that features the famous Sancy diamond – a 55.23 carat diamond with a chequered history that was sold to the Louvre in 1978 for $1m.

“The combination of pearls and old-cut diamonds was highly fashionable in the late Victorian and Edwardian era, but remains utterly timeless today,” said Marielle Whiting, head of Jewellery at Woolley and Wallis, where the brooch is to be sold. “When Lady Astor became an MP, she developed a habit of dressing simply in black when attending the House of Commons, so that her clothes did not detract from her politics. She was regularly photographed wearing pearls to complement her attire and it is possible that this was one such piece.”

The brooch features in the Fine Jewellery auction of 30th and 31st October at the Salisbury auction house – a sale that also includes a significant gold and enamel collar necklace (lot 841) commissioned by the grandfather of another major British politician – Sir Winston Churchill. John Winston Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough, commissioned the necklace during the second half of the 19th century, possibly as a gift for his daughter, Lady Georgiana, on the occasion of her marriage to Richard Penn-Curzon, 4th Earl of Howe.

“This is a unique piece which, through the names of Spencer-Churchill’s seven children inscribed on it, links many notable figures of British royalty, nobility and politics,” explained Whiting. “All of the people whose initials feature on this piece went on to be linked to significant people and events on both sides of the Atlantic. The necklace itself is also a fine example of Victorian historicism and the focus on craftsmanship that prevailed during that time.”

The necklace carries a pre-sale estimate of £30,000 – 50,000 and will come under the hammer on 31st October.

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