It’s not often that a true aristocratic heirloom is made available to the public, but this month, a diamond and pearl tiara, which has been in the Ogilvy family for generations, will go up for sale at auction. The piece, made by Garrard at the end of the nineteenth century, balances diamond daisy, clover, and ivy leaf designs with large pearls, two of which are natural saltwater.
Auctioneers Lyon & Turnbull will offer the tiara as part of a collection of lots from the estate of Virginia Ogilvy, Countess of Airlie, who died last year. This particular piece is expected to sell for between $66.6K and $93.2K, as it boasts not just an incredible design, but a fascinating history that links back to the British royal family.
The tiara’s first recorded wearer was Lady Mabell Gore, who became the Countess of Airlie in 1886 when she married David Ogilvy, the 11th Earl. Lyon & Turnbull have speculated that the piece may have been a wedding present, given that daisies represent innocence and purity, while ivy has long been associated with love. Sadly, the Countess was widowed when her husband died in the Second Boer War in 1900, but one year later she was appointed as one of the Ladies of the Bedchamber to the Princess of Wales—later Queen Mary—and continued to serve in the role until the Queen’s death in 1953.
Another new bride had recently joined the Ogilvy family at that time, and would also go on to need a tiara: Virginia Fortune Ryan, the daughter of a wealthy American banking family, who was connected to the British upper classes by her father, a close friend of both Sir Winston Churchill and Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon. Her connections enabled her to marry Mabell’s grandson, Lord David Ogilvy, the heir to the earldom, in 1952—and their wedding was quite the society affair. Guests included Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, and Princess Margaret, as well as the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester. The groom’s best man, meanwhile, was his younger brother, The Hon. Angus Ogilvy, who would go on to marry Princess Alexandra of Kent.