Brooch that Belonged to Queen Victoria Reigns Over Bonhams Jewellery Sale

LONDON.- A gold, enamel and garnet bodice brooch from 1830 that belonged to Queen Victoria made fourteen times its pre-sale estimate at Bonhams Jewellery Sale that took place yesterday (April 6th) in Knightsbridge. With a pre-sale estimate of £600 – 800, the brooch sold for £11,400. The finely detailed brooch is embellished with green and red enamel, set with cabochon garnets that suspend an elongated drop of a similar design. The brooch originally belonged to Victoria, Duchess of Kent, who on her death in 1861 (the same year as the death of Prince Albert) left her jewellery to her daughter, Queen Victoria. Queen Victoria subsequently gave the brooch to her third daughter Helena, Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, as a present on her 24th birthday in 1870. The reverse of the brooch has a simple, yet very personal engraving:

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