Lot Essay
With original bill of sale from Chaumet dated 26 October 1916 for one row comprising fifty-one pearls, also accompanied by a letter from Chaumet dated 6 April 1955 relating to the addition of two more rows
In 1913 Dorothy Baird, wife to the wealthy American industrialist, John Howard Johnston was a young widow. Her late husband made his fortune mining in Peru and built his wife a house in the South of France at Beaulieu which he named Sapalca after his mines. Her own family had been famous engineers in Russia, owning the iron foundery known as the Baird Works and helping to construct St Isaac's Cathedral in St Petersburg where they were subsequently buried.
Dorothy's second husband, Pierre du Breuil de Saint-Germain owned a fine chateau in the Haute Marne and a 16th century town house in Langres (now the Musée du Breuil de Saint-Germain). In 1916 he bought her pearls from Chaumet in Paris which are now offered for sale
In 1913 Dorothy Baird, wife to the wealthy American industrialist, John Howard Johnston was a young widow. Her late husband made his fortune mining in Peru and built his wife a house in the South of France at Beaulieu which he named Sapalca after his mines. Her own family had been famous engineers in Russia, owning the iron foundery known as the Baird Works and helping to construct St Isaac's Cathedral in St Petersburg where they were subsequently buried.
Dorothy's second husband, Pierre du Breuil de Saint-Germain owned a fine chateau in the Haute Marne and a 16th century town house in Langres (now the Musée du Breuil de Saint-Germain). In 1916 he bought her pearls from Chaumet in Paris which are now offered for sale