Well I got here at 10am and went straight in. I’ve just come out from there after maybe 25 minutes perusing things in the main shop.
Wear comfy shoes! And wear your reading glasses!
There’s lots of very pretty things and some that are frankly obscene when you think for a second about the socio-political environment that they firmly represent. Some are painfully sad, others are just plain gorgeous.
There’s things from the Russian imperial family, courts of every royal family, tonnes of items that relatively poor country’s politicians wives could somehow afford…
What I really liked was seeing the history of ownership. There’s loads that were owned by Cole Porter’s wife for example. I liked that sense of historical place and time.
Key case donated by his sister in memory of Freddie Mercury
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It’s the notation of the size of the stones that this necklace for a man that blew me away even more so than the actual piece itself.
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There’s a whole section on how they make the panthers. By hand. Under a microscope.
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Owned by Barbara Hutton
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Massive sapphires that I can’t recall who owned
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Hope diamonds
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Lots of stuff from film stars including Grace Kelly, Liz Taylor, Gloria Swanson etc
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This is an articulated necklace. The whole thing moves. Made to commission by a Mexican film star.
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Oh and a whole bunch of stuff from the Duchess of Windsor’s collection as well as loads of things lent from HM The King, the Aga Khan, Rihanna, and lots from Queen Victoria’s children and grandchildren. Plus quite a few that belonged to the Bonaparte family.