Property from the Collection of
ELIZABETH PARKE FIRESTONE
IMPORTANT PAIR OF DIAMOND CLUSTER EAR CLIPS
Details
IMPORTANT PAIR OF DIAMOND CLUSTER EAR CLIPS
Each set with four marquise-cut diamonds and three pear-shaped diamonds, mounted in platinum
Signed by Winston
Each set with four marquise-cut diamonds and three pear-shaped diamonds, mounted in platinum
Signed by Winston
Further details
ELIZABETH PARKE FIRESTONE
(1897 - 1990)
America lost the last of a generation of great post-war collectors with the death of Elizabeth Parke Firestone in October 1990 at the age of 93. As a serious collector, Mrs. Firestone wasn't interested in grand decoration, but rather developed her collections with a rare connoisseurship and passion for objects. In addition to forming one of the most extensive assemblages of 18th Century French decorative and fine arts in the United States--Mrs. Firestone collected high quality, signed pieces of jewelry which reflected her discriminating taste and eye.
Born in Decatur, Illinois in 1897, Mrs. Firestone was the daughter of Guy James Parke and Gertrude Chambers Parke. Her ancestors had traveled on the 'Arabella' to New England as part of the John Winthrop expedition in 1630. As a young woman Mrs. Firestone attended Leed's School in England, and Rosemary Hall, Greenwich, Connecticut, and from Miss Wheeler's School in Providence, Rhode Island.
In 1921, Elizabeth married Harvey S. Firestone, Jr. the heir to the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company. The two built a full and rich life together, residing in Akron, Ohio and at 'Ocean Lawn', Newport, Rhode Island. The gracious ocean-fron home, located on 22 acres, provided an ideal setting for her treasures which she collected from the 1940's through 1970.
Her collection of 57 rare gold and enamelled boxes, scent-flasks and snuff boxes was sold by Christie's in November 1982. It was, and remains nearly a decade later, the most highly successful single-owner sale of gold boxes ever held in the United States.
Christie's is pleased to follow our recent March 1991 sales of The Elizabeth Parke Firestone Collection of Important French Porcelain, French Furniture, Old Master Paintings and Drawings and Works of Art, with the sale of her distinguished collection of jewelry.
(1897 - 1990)
America lost the last of a generation of great post-war collectors with the death of Elizabeth Parke Firestone in October 1990 at the age of 93. As a serious collector, Mrs. Firestone wasn't interested in grand decoration, but rather developed her collections with a rare connoisseurship and passion for objects. In addition to forming one of the most extensive assemblages of 18th Century French decorative and fine arts in the United States--Mrs. Firestone collected high quality, signed pieces of jewelry which reflected her discriminating taste and eye.
Born in Decatur, Illinois in 1897, Mrs. Firestone was the daughter of Guy James Parke and Gertrude Chambers Parke. Her ancestors had traveled on the 'Arabella' to New England as part of the John Winthrop expedition in 1630. As a young woman Mrs. Firestone attended Leed's School in England, and Rosemary Hall, Greenwich, Connecticut, and from Miss Wheeler's School in Providence, Rhode Island.
In 1921, Elizabeth married Harvey S. Firestone, Jr. the heir to the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company. The two built a full and rich life together, residing in Akron, Ohio and at 'Ocean Lawn', Newport, Rhode Island. The gracious ocean-fron home, located on 22 acres, provided an ideal setting for her treasures which she collected from the 1940's through 1970.
Her collection of 57 rare gold and enamelled boxes, scent-flasks and snuff boxes was sold by Christie's in November 1982. It was, and remains nearly a decade later, the most highly successful single-owner sale of gold boxes ever held in the United States.
Christie's is pleased to follow our recent March 1991 sales of The Elizabeth Parke Firestone Collection of Important French Porcelain, French Furniture, Old Master Paintings and Drawings and Works of Art, with the sale of her distinguished collection of jewelry.