Tracing the legacy of the world’s largest pear-shaped pearl

by Tamanna Bhasin | July 2, 2024 10:35 am

By Dr. Lucille Daver

For centuries, natural or fine pearls have been the gem of choice for powerful figures throughout the world. Yet, the unique history of one pearl, discovered 445 years ago, sets it apart from others of its kind.

The Peregrina, a pear-shaped natural white pearl is one of the largest pearls of its shape in the world. At the time of its discovery, it measured approximately 17.35-17.90 x 25.50 mm and weighed 55.95 carats—marking it as the first pearl of such a size. In 1913, after cleaning, polishing and cutting, its weight was reduced to 50.56 carats. The chances of producing a pearl of the Peregrina’s scale and quality are incalculable.

What’s the difference between natural and cultured?

A pearl is formed when an intruder (sand or parasite) infiltrates the interior of an oyster or mussel. The mollusc reacts by covering the intruder with a succession of thin layers of nacre, forming the pearl. On average, only one oyster in 10,000-15,000 produces a pearl and even, depending on the species, as many as one in one million oysters.

The growing popularity of pearls among the European aristocracy and the nouveau riche of America helped decimate mollusc populations. The beginning of the 20th century marked the end of intensive pearl farming and the beginning of the development of pearl culture. Inspired by 13th-century nacre-covered Chinese buddha statuettes, the Japanese Tatsuhei Mise, Tokichi Nishikawa, and later Kokichi Mikimoto, developed a method to produce cultured pearls. They introduced a bead made of shell (nucleus) into the mollusc’s mantle, forcing it to produce a round pearl within one to three years. The arrival of cultured pearls on the market made the gems more accessible to the public.

The largest natural pearl of its kind

According to a letter from 1579 residing in the Spanish royal archives, the Peregrina was discovered in the Gulf of Panama on the coast of Santa Margarita Island in the Pearl Archipelago. Spanish colonists focused their explorations on this region teeming with oysters after noticing pearl ornaments worn by Indigenous populations—who associated pearls with spiritual power, social rank, and female fertility.

Myths surrounding the pearl attribute the discovery to an enslaved African man who noticed it lying in a tiny oyster shell. At the time, it was the largest pearl to have ever been discovered. The man presented the pearl to his master. Allegedly, according to popular narratives, the master was so delighted by the pearl that he freed the man.

Adorning Spanish royalty

After its discovery, the pearl was sold to a Portuguese pearl merchant who brought it back to Seville, Spain. Although the pearl was originally intended for Rodolphe II of Habsburg, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire and a great gem collector, it was acquired by King Philip II of Spain. Philip II, who wanted to possess the gem as soon as he first saw it, bought the pearl for 9,000 ducats.

He offered it to his eldest daughter Eugenie, before reclaiming it in 1588 before her wedding to ensure its position in the Spanish crown treasury, where it remained for almost 250 years and eight kings. At that time, the pearl hung under a brooch set with a 48-carat diamond, the Estanque—considered the largest diamond in Europe at the time. Numerous paintings by Diego Velázquez on display at the Prado Museum in Madrid show the fabulous jewel at the neck of Queens Marguerite of Austria-Styria, wife of Philip III, and Elisabeth of France and Marianne of Austria, the successive wives of Philip IV.

When not worn, the pearl was kept in a small, custom-made gold cocoon that opened in two, cleaned and polished. This is presumably one of the reasons why it has survived the centuries so well, without dehydrating or cracking.

Napoleon’s acquisition

In 1808, Napoleon I invaded Spain and entrusted the throne to his elder brother, Joseph Bonaparte, crowned King of Spain for a short five-year reign. When the French were defeated, he fled the country, taking with him some of the crown jewels, including the famous pearl. It was at this time that the pearl was nicknamed La Peregrina, which means “the nomad” in French.

After his death in 1844, Joseph Bonaparte bequeathed the pearl to his nephew Louis-Napoleon, the future Napoleon III then exiled in London, who chose to sell it to James Hamilton, first Duke of Abercorn in 1848. The Duke gave it to his wife Louisa Hamilton. At the time, the Peregrina hung from a fine chain of natural pearls. As the chain was likely too fragile to support the Peregrina’s weight, the Duchess is said to have almost lost it twice. Luckily, the necklace was found both times and the pearl remained in the possession of the Hamilton family for over a century.

To Vegas

The necklace was offered for sale in 1969 by Sotheby’s auction house in London. Richard Burton won the auction for US$37,000 as a gift for his wife, the famous Elizabeth Taylor. The pearl made its way from London to Las Vegas, where the couple were staying, in the company of Ward Landrigan, head of the jewellery department at Sotheby’s New York.

The Duchess of Abercorn’s misadventure was repeated with Taylor, who recounts in her book how, after 20 minutes of wearing the pearl, she reached to touch her “talisman,” only to find that the necklace had disappeared. On all fours on the carpet, they found one of the actress’s Pekingese dogs chewing on the Peregrina pearl. Fortunately, it was undamaged and had only suffered a few scratches.

New setting

In 1972, Taylor entrusted the Peregrina to Cartier to have it set differently. Inspired by the pearl ornament on Hans Eworth’s portrait of Marie Tudor dating 1553-1558 (the pearl featured in the painting has often been mistaken for the Peregrina), Al Durante of Cartier created a gold and platinum necklace. The necklace consists of a two-strand choker adorned with 56 natural pearls and four cultured pearls, interspersed with eight flame motif plaques adorned with diamonds and rubies. In the centre lies a suspension bearing pear rubies, diamonds, a natural pearl and, of course, the Peregrina.

The auction

Elizabeth Taylor kept the Peregrina necklace until her death in 2011. On December 13, 2011, 80 pieces of jewellery were auctioned by Christie’s in New York for “The Collection of Elizabeth Taylor: The Legendary Jewels.” An anonymous buyer won the bid for a record $11.8 million, quadrupling his original estimate for a single reason: the pearl’s incredible history. Even today, the price is a world record for a pearl jewel. G

References

¹ Christie’s. 2011. Auction catalogue: the collection of Elizabeth Taylor : the legendary jewels, evening sale : la peregrina a natural pearl , New York, 2011

² Krzemnicki  (2013). Age determination of pearls: a new approach for pearl testing and identification

³ Perri, M. (2009). ‘Ruined and lost’: Spanish destruction of the pearl coast in the early sixteenth century. Environment and history, 15(2), 129-161.

⁴ Shor, R. (2007). From single source to global free market: the transformation of the cultured pearl industry. Gems & Gemology, 43(3).

⁵ Taylor, E. (2003). Elizabeth Taylor: my love affair with jewelry : Simon & Schuster, 240pages

⁶ Warren, D. “Pearl tales” conference at Danat institut: https://www.danat.bh/pearl-tales-by-david-warren-and-andrew-price/

⁷ Zhou, C. et al. (2017). Saltwater pearls from the pre-to early Columbian era: a gemological and radiocarbon dating study. Gems & Gemology, 53(3).

Dr. Lucille Daver is a mineral exploration researcher in Que. specializing in mineralog and diamond geology. A gemmologist awarded with the internationally recognized title of Fellow of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain, she has been periodically teaching gemmology since 2020 and started a jewellery company in 2023 (Lucille-daver.com). She can be reached at lucilledaver1@gmail.com.[1]

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