Brooch, brilliant-cut diamonds on silver backed with gold, London, about 1902

Brilliant cut diamonds set in silver backed with gold.

Given by Mrs Harold Shipton in memory of the centenary of the birth of her father Mr. Clement Attlee

The brooch is in a case by Cartier, which has a silver plaque glued to the outside of the lid recording that the Prime Minister's wife, Mrs Clement Attlee, had been given the brooch when she named an oil tanker, British Fame, in 1948, a replacement for a ship of the same name sunk in the Secon World War.

Although the jewel probably dates from about 1900, or possibly a little earlier, the case is stamped on the back CARTIER LTD. which appears to date the case as not earlier than 1919, and it is probable that an older jewel was given a new case in 1948 for the presentation. The case in 1948 would have been fitted for the jewel, but it is clear that the brooch pin is a later alteration. If the jewel had been altered prior to 1948, the case would have been fitted to accommodate it. The printed inscription on the silk inside the case is badly rubbed but may once have included Cartier's New York and London addresses, as well as Paris, which would mean that it cannot be earlier than 1909, even if we discount the evidence of the stamp on the case.

Presented to the wife of the British prime Minister Clement Attlee when she launched the tanker British Fame at Clydebank in 1948.

Diamonds were no longer reserved for grand occasions. By about 1900 it was even fashionable to wear them in the morning, a change in taste encouraged by the flow of stones from South Africa which began in the late 1860s.

M.22-1983