From the moment it was discovered by a young enslaved pearl diver in 1577, the pearl, La Peregrina, has had celebrity status, famed for its large size and perfect pear shape. It has been in and out of royal collections, eventually belonging to legendary actress and jewelry collector, Elizabeth Taylor. La Peregrina was sold in December 2011 during an auction of her belongings at Christie’s New York after she passed away. La Peregrina is now in a private collection.
La Peregrina not only fascinated royals during the Renaissance, but also Annemarie Jordan, PhD., who first learned about the pearl, about twelve years ago, while researching the imperial Ambassador Hans Khevenhüller, who wanted to buy the Peregrina in 1581. Ms. Jordan found her first reference to La Peregrina in a letter discovered in Khevenhüller’s papers, which along with further research inspired her to write the book “La Peregrina: An Extraordinary Renaissance Pearl”, to dispel old myths and misinformation about it. “The book has 328 pages with 173 images, that documents the entire history of La Peregrina, in nine chapters,” says Ms. Jordan, who dedicated the book to actor Richard Burton due to his interest in the pearl and his desire to write its story. The foreword is written by Francois Curiel, chairman, Christie’s Europe.
Acquiring La Peregrina
The Habsburg Emperor Rudolph II was an important art and gem collector, working with Ambassador Khevenhüller to build his collection of rare precious stones. In her research, Ms. Jordan came across a letter written in 1582 that mentioned La Peregrina. Rudolph II commissioned Khevenhüller to buy gems for him, noting that he wanted La Peregrina, which had arrived in Spain in 1580. The King of Spain had been informed about this magnificent pearl when it was found in Panama and of course it piqued his interest.
However, acquiring a pearl of this stature was no easy task, even for one of the most prominent gem dealers of the day. Khevenhüller didn’t have enough money to buy the pearl, so he brokered the sale to Spain’s King Philip II, who ended up paying 9,000 ducats for the gem in 1586, an exorbitant amount at the time. Before he died in 1598, Philip II wrote in his will that La Peregrina should remain an “inalienable royal gem of the Spanish crown treasury.”
“La Peregrina was the largest natural pearl found in Panama. King Philip II chose Golconda diamonds and La Peregrina to be in the crown jewels, so they could never be sold,” says Ms. Jordan. “La Peregrina was part of the Spanish Crown Jewels from 1598 until 1808.”
The Bonaparte Years
In 1808, Joseph Bonaparte, the older brother of Napoleon Bonaparte I, was installed as King of Spain until 1813, he fled the country due to political upheaval, taking La Peregrina with him, along with other Spanish crown jewels. “Joseph Boanaprte took La Peregrina with him to the United States, where it stayed for 25 years with the other crown jewels that he stole and then sold at the end of his life,” says Ms. Jordan, who traveled to Lisbon, Madrid, Seville, Paris, and Vienna, where the Habsburg archives are located, as well as a castle in northern Spain, Simancas in Valladolid.
Duke of Abercorn
The pearl landed in the possession of the first Duke of Abercorn, James Hamilton, who bought it from the City of London Jeweller Joel Emmanuel in 1833. Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, convinced the first Duke to display La Peregrina during the 1851 Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, where the masses – six million — saw it at Garrard’s stand no. 98.
In 1914, the third Duke of Abercorn needed money for inheritance tax and wanted to sell the Peregrina. That Duke took it to Hennell & Sons in London where it was capped with a diamond leaf spray from an older Abercorn tiara. It was hoped that Alfonso XIII, the King of Spain would buy it, but he did not.
One important part of Ms. Jordan’s research was speaking with jewelry dealer Paul Fisher who had actually owned La Peregrina. In 1968 the Fourth Duke of Abercorn sold the ocean treasure which was purchased by Fisher with his partner John Foster. La Peregrina was taken to New York because pearl prices were down in Europe. They took La Peregrina to the auction house Parke-Bernet, where it was confirmed that the pearl was La Peregrina. “The early publicity and press asked if the pearl was really La Peregrina. The exiled Queen of Spain, Victoria-Eugenie of Battenberg (Ena) thought that she owned it, but it turned out to be a different pearl,” recounts Ms. Jordan.
A Valentine’s Day Gift
La Peregrina sold at the auction to none other than actor Richard Burton who purchased the jewel as a Valentine’s Day gift for his wife, Elizabeth Taylor, who in 1972, took the pearl to Cartier where a necklace was designed to showcase the gem. When Ms. Taylor passed away, her jewelry and other possessions were put up for auction at Christie’s New York in 2011. La Peregrina was part of the collection and was estimated to sell for $2 million to $3 million. Instead, it sold for $11.8 million and is now part of a private collection.
“La Peregrina has fascinated me because it became famous immediately. A young slave found it and while we don’t know what happened to him, it was customary at the time that a pearl find such as this gained the person freedom from slavery,” concludes Ms. Jordan. “Officials wrote to the King of Spain about the most incredible pearl found in Panama and La Peregrina has had an incredible life of her own.”
Published by Paul Holberton Publishing, London, “La Peregrina: An Extraordinary Renaissance Pearl” will be released this summer and is available for purchase at: www.paulholberton.com.
Top of Page: “La Peregrina: An Extraordinary Renaissance Pearl” author Annemarie Jordan, holds La Peregrina in her hand before it was auctioned at Christie’s New York sale of Elizabeth Taylor’s jewelry in December 2011.
“La Peregrina: An Extraordinary Renaissance Pearl” book cover; Annemarie Jordan; Portrait of Queen Maria Anna of Austria, Queen of Spain (1651-1661), wearing the Peregrina Pearl and the Estanque Diamond, oil on canvas, courtesy Kunsthistorisches Museum; Richard Burton with Elizabeth Taylor wearing La Peregrina (long necklace) in 1969.
Authored by Amber Michelle