Two Fern spray brooches
Cartier Paris, 1903
Platinum
Round old-cut diamonds
Millegrain setting
These completely articulated and highly supple brooches could originally be placed on a rigid structure and worn as a tiara. In 1904, the client ordered a setting that made it possible to wear them as a necklace or a corsage ornament by turning the sprays outward. The transformable sprays were delivered in a box with a spanner-head screwdriver.
Sold to Sir Ernest Cassel. Sir Ernest Cassel (1852–1921) was a friend and private financial adviser to King Edward VII of Britain. In 1922 his granddaughter, The Honorable Edwina Ashley, married the last Viceroy of India, Lord Louis Mountbatten, later Earl Mountbatten of Burma.
18.5 cm x 4.0 cm
