Lot Essay
This blue and white veined stone is a type of Sodalite known as Princess blue from the Princess mine in Ontario, Canada. Both the stone and the mine are named after Princess Mary of Teck, later Queen Mary who, with her husband, later King George V, toured Canada in 1901. She so admired the stone that she requested it be used at Marlborough House, their official London residence. Royal patronage led to the opening of quarries in 1906 and helped popularise the use of the stone for fashionable interiors of the day.