Property of a lady is all you get about the owner. In 1984 the
owner’s father commissioned Cartier to make this piece for his wife.
I digress for a brief instant for this question: Is 1984 a long time
ago or not? I remember that year as being the title of a book written
about a distant future. And now it seems but a scant moment in a
nearby past. Hey… what’s going on here!!!
The piece took Cartier eight months to complete and was finally
presented as a special gift in 1985. It was made to complement a
bangle that had been purchased in Paris some ten years earlier.
During WW1 an American lady by the name of Elsie De Wolfe introduced
the Panther motif in the world of interior fashion and soon became
the darling decorator of the elite rich. Cartier… quick of wit and
keen of eye…quickly recognized the power of our little kitty and
quickly used it as an inspirational fount of creativity to be used
for his jewelry. His first Panther creation was a wristwatch.
However–I know this is all a little dry folks… but sometimes good
stuff is. However… it was Jeanne Toussaint… close friend of Louis
Cartier… that gave the panther the iconic status it had at Cartier.
She loved all things feline–a trait I might add that is to be
admired–and was nicknamed by those who knew and loved her as
“Panthere”.
Not to get too pedantic… and to keep this as short and sweet as I
can… I shall end this brief narrative with a short list of famous
folks who loved Cat Jewelry. Let’s see. There was the Duchess of
Windsor who owned a Panther brooch. And there was the Princess Nina
Aga Khan who owned a suite of Panther jewels. And there was Barbara
Hutton who owned yellow diamond and onyx striped tigers not much
unlike the necklace you are about to see and which was worth… back
in 1984… a measly $600,000. Don’t know what that is in today’s
bucks folks … but I bet it’s a tad more.
Go take a look. Let me know what you think. I live for your
reactions.
For those of you who are new to this thing called Tidbits…may I
direct you to my home page at http://www.tyler-adam.com where you
will scroll down the left side menu till you get to the area that
says Current Tidbits… click it… and you will see represented on
our pages a yellow diamond and onyx tiger necklace with emerald eyes
set in 18 karat gold.
And there ya have it.
That’s it for this week folks.
Catch you all next week.
Benjamin Mark