Two rare Kashmir sapphires sell for almost €1.4 million in Dublin
Sarah Slater
Two very rare Kashmir sapphire brooches kept in a sealed family vault for almost 40 years and once owned by relatives of the 7th Earl of Wicklow have sold for almost €1.4 million at an auction house in Dublin.
The brooches, one of which was lot 46 and valued at up to €250,000, sold for €540,000 following numerous phone bids and estimated at €250,000, lot 47 was bought for €550,000 at Adam’s auction house on Tuesday afternoon.
The combined commission of 25 per cent on both of the brooches was €270,000, bringing the overall value of the brooches to €1.36 million.
Bidders in the room, on the phone and online heard from the auctioneer that, “You wait for a long time for one rare sapphire to come along, then two do at the same time.”
Kashmir sapphires hold a unique place in the world of fine gemstones. The colour of Kashmir sapphires sets them apart as they are considered the very finest, surpassing even the best from Burma, also known as Myanmar or Ceylon, now known as Sri Lanka.
The sapphires formed part of 18 lots, which all sold during the auction, from a collection that dates from the Gilded Age of New York high society and a marriage to a titled family in Ireland.
In the early 1990s, Benjamin Aymar Sands and his wife Amy Kirby Akin of 43 East 18th Street, New York, gifted jewellery to their daughter May Emily Sands (29) to celebrate her marriage to the Honourable Hugh Melville Howard (25), the youngest son of the 6th Earl of Wicklow and Fanny Catherine Wingfield.
The couple married on September 19th, 1908, and the jewellery when they died was inherited by their daughter Katharine Frances Howard of Shelton Abbey, Co Wicklow, and Ounavarra House, Co Wexford, who was the godmother to the present owner.
Claire-Laurence Mestrallet, a director and jewellery specialist with Adams in Dublin, explained that the owner of the brooches decided to bring the collection, which also includes diamond, sapphire and emerald rings, gold coins, a diamond choker necklace and a pearl pendant to them as it is “jewellery she doesn’t intend to wear.”
Ms Mestrallet revealed that the jewellery owner approached her earlier this year. Following the auction, Ms Mestrallet added: "We are super happy (with) the sale. The two buyers of the sapphire brooches were foreign."
The marriage of their daughter, May Sands, to Hugh Melville Howard brought together a bond of American society and European aristocracy. The New York Times reported on the wedding that took place at the Old Dune Church at Southampton, Long Island.
Unfortunately, their marriage did not have a long life, as Hugh died of pneumonia at a young age and May developed psychological problems and had to be institutionalised.
Their two children, Katharine and Cecil, went to live with their uncle, the 7th Earl of Wicklow, at Shelton Abbey and spent holidays with their grandmother, Amy Sands.
Katharine remained in Ireland and purchased Ounavarra House, Co Wexford, where she farmed. Katharine also contributed greatly to Irish society by starting a troop of girl guides and lent support to An Taisce, the Council for the Blind, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and the National Fisheries Authority.
When Cecil died in New York in 1983, the Earldom became extinct. Katharine died in 1990 and was buried in the family vault in Kilbride Church in Co. Wicklow. As she was the last surviving descendant of the Earls of Wicklow, the vault was sealed.
“This rediscovered private collection of exquisite jewellery brings to light a charmed time and place,” continued Ms Mestrallet.
The sale of the sapphire brooches follows the sale of an extremely rare Kashmir sapphire by the same auction house last May.
The ring was sold for €550,000, the highest price ever seen in Ireland for a gem of its kind and almost 70 times its original estimated value.
