Vivienne looks at pearls that never lose their lustre – or their value.
FASHION affects the value of antique jewellery greatly. Not so long ago, the only pearls to be seen in were a string of graduated pearls, as worn by Sloane Rangers, yet today the only set to be seen in is a uniform strings of pearls, the bigger the better. Although it is fairly rare to get uniform strands of natural pearls, the purchaser of the strand of graduated natural pearls we have pictured had to pay a cool £108,000 in a recent specialist auction in order to attain them…