A CORAL AND DIAMOND SUITE, BY MEISTER

This lot is offered without reserve. Prospective … Read more

THE COUNTESS ANNA MUELLER GROCHOLSKI To see the Countess Mueller Grocholski at a social event in London or Zurich, impeccably clad in dramatic brocades and silks, often trimmed with fur, her wonderful jewels glinting, her interest and infectious enthusiasm for the moment very evident, one would never have suspected what an extraordinary and courageous story she had to tell. Anna Mueller Grocholski's life was unique, spanning as it did the 20th Century, wars, revolutions, three continents and four marriages. Anna Mueller Grocholski was born in Russia in 1909, the child of Boris Svertschkov and Olga Svertschkov-Obakiewicz. Her father was at the time of her birth a Lieutenant of the 17th Novomirgorod Ulan Regiment. When her mother died of scarlet fever in 1916, her father took Anna and her brother to safety in Finland to live with his sister. When the sister fell ill the children returned to all the dangers of revolutionary Russia to live with their maternal grandmother. At the beginning of the 1920's, the brother and sister and their grandmother got out of Russia and went to Belgrade where their father had set up home after the Russian Revolution. However Anna's father, in common with so many Russian émigrés, was finding it very difficult to make a living, and was forced to take any casual employment he could find. An uncle, Micha Obakiewicz, asked his mother, together with his niece, to join him in Saigon where, as he had a good job as an agent for Indochina and Siam for an American insurance broker, he could offer them a better life. Anna, now in her late teens, was employed as a secretary by these brokers, subsequently moving to Shanghai to work with them there. The glittering decadence and glamour of Shanghai in the 1920's must have come as something of a shock to her. In Shanghai, in 1931, Anna married her first husband, Walter Kuhr, a German, but after Hitler came to power in Germany, Kuhr, a follower of Hitler, wanted to return to his homeland. Anna did not approve of the new regime in Germany so stayed in Shanghai with her uncle, divorcing Kuhr in 1936. She had, however, always wanted to leave the Far East and go to Switzerland or America. In 1937, she placed an advertisement in a newspaper which appeared in Shanghai as well as in Japan, offering her services as a secretary in Europe or in America. The only answer she received was from Julius Muller, a Swiss national, coincidentally on a business trip in Shanghai. He employed her for six months, and after two months he asked her to go to work for him in Tokyo, subsequently she followed him to New York. At that time, Julius Muller was married to a Japanese woman by whom he had three children; eventually he and Anna commenced a relationship but his Japanese wife would not give him a divorce. Before the war, Anna travelled around the world with Julius Muller, but still retained her German nationality which she had acquired when she married Kuhr. At the outbreak of the Second World War, Anna married Ernst Schappi, to acquire Swiss citizenship. This was, however, a 'matrimonium non consomption' and the marriage was dissolved in 1940. Two years later, Anna married Julius Muller, now divorced, in New York. Later, the couple returned to Switzerland and bought an estate in Zollikon near Zurich which remained Anna's home for many years. Widowed, Anna married the Count Grocholski in 1989 and eventually sold the estate and settled in a large flat in Zurich, where her daughter and granddaughters lived. Her jewellery collection is like Anna Mueller Grocholski herself; there are vivid pieces, almost larger-than-life, in rich deep colour combinations hinting at her Russian ancestry. There are jewels of almost barbaric splendour, perhaps reminding her of the wild and wonderful era when she lived in Shanghai. There are elegant combinations of pearls and diamonds befitting a social star in London and Zurich. And there are charming curiosities such as the ladybirds, birds, fish, so typical of the humour and fun this extraordinary survivor always displayed. Image caption - Countess Grocholski wearing lots 313, 322 and 341 THE ESTATE OF THE LATE COUNTESS GROCHOLSKI

Details

A CORAL AND DIAMOND SUITE, BY MEISTER
Comprising a gold and diamond abstract foliate necklace with detachable diamond and cabochon coral pendant, a matching pair of earclips and ring en suite, mounted in 18k gold, necklace 49.0 cm long, ring size 6½
Each signed EM for Meister (4)

Special notice

This lot is offered without reserve. Prospective purchasers are advised that several countries prohibit the importation of property containing materials from endangered species, including but not limited to coral, ivory and tortoiseshell. Accordingly, prospective purchasers should familiarize themselves with relevant customs regulations prior to bidding if they intend to import this lot into another country.

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