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Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Jewellery, Rooms 91, The William and Judith Bollinger Gallery

Brooch

1913 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This diamond and stained chalcedony brooch shows a geometric design. According to its donor, Lady Reigate, it was bought by her father, W. Redmond Cross of New York City, for his wife at Cartier, New York, Christmas 1913, the year of his marriage to Julia Newbold. However, there is no record to confirm the Cartier connection in the archives of the firm.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Diamonds and stained chalcedony mounted in platinum
Brief description
Brooch of platinum set with brilliant-cut diamonds and stained chalcedony, possibly by Cartier, Paris, 1913
Physical description
Brooch of brilliant-cut diamonds and stained chalcedony set in platinum
Dimensions
  • Length: 5.1cm
Marks and inscriptions
Engraved diamond shape (formed of two right-angles placed one above another) in front of the numbers 89 (Not a known sequence or style of inscription for a piece by Cartier)
Credit line
Given by Lady Reigate
Object history
Lady Reigate generously donated the brooch in 1976 with the information that it had been 'made by Cartier' and bought at Cartier, New York, at Christmas 1913, a present from her father to he mother. Her father was William Redmond Cross (1874-1940), who married Julia Newbold in 1913. Lady Reigate was born in about 1914 since she was aged 92 when she died on 30 April 2006.

The brooch is in the style of Cartier of the period, but research in the Cartier archives, kindly conducted by Violette Petit and her colleagues in Paris, New York and London, has not revealed any record of the brooch amongst buyers' names or in the photographic archive or in the registers.
Summary
This diamond and stained chalcedony brooch shows a geometric design. According to its donor, Lady Reigate, it was bought by her father, W. Redmond Cross of New York City, for his wife at Cartier, New York, Christmas 1913, the year of his marriage to Julia Newbold. However, there is no record to confirm the Cartier connection in the archives of the firm.
Collection
Accession number
M.212-1976

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Record createdDecember 7, 2002
Record URL
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