Jaqueline Kennedy Onassis Gold Cuff Bracelets Wedding Gift coming up at Heritage Auctions

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BEVERLY HILLS — A pair of dazzling Gold Cuff Bracelets by Van Cleef & Arpels, gifted by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis to Nina Straight, her step-sister and maid of honor when she married John F. Kennedy in 1953, are expected to sell for $40,000 in Heritage Auctions' Contemporary Designer Jewels Auction Sept. 26 in Beverly Hills. Kennedy Onassis surprised Straight with the bracelets when she served as Straight's maid of honor 21 years later. 

"They were a gift from Jackie for my wedding to Michael Straight in 1974," Straight said for an exclusive interview with Heritage Auctions' Intelligent Collector Magazine. "We were married at St. John's Cathedral in New York. Jackie gave them to me at the luncheon after the ceremony."

The cuffs matched a pair Kennedy Onassis often wore. "Jackie loved hers so much that she bought me a pair knowing I would enjoy them equally," Straight said. "I always viewed myself as Jackie's 'Sancho Panza' or sidekick. We had so much fun. Ours was a very close relationship."

Jill Burgum, Senior Director of Jewelry at Heritage said there is no telling how the collecting public will respond to a pair of cuffs gifted by the First Lady to someone so special to her life. The pair Kennedy Onassis gifted to Straight are marked 47 and 48. A bracelet from Kennedy Onassis' own pair sold previously is marked No. 50, so it is very likely that she purchased both limited edition sets at the same time and gave Straight the earlier pair, Burgum said.

"Nina was Jackie's step-sister so this was a very important and thoughtful gift by a former First Lady, who was known as an icon of American fashion," Burgum said. "Nina said she hopes they are purchased by someone equally as 'fun loving'."

The cuffs and the rest of the lots from Heritage Auction's upcoming September 26th sale can be viewed on their website.

Diamonds Unleashed For Serena Williams

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Serena Williams

The DIAMONDS UNLEASHED FOR SERENA WILLIAMS jewelry collection debuted September 12, 2016 during New York Fashion Week. The collection accompanied Serena Williams’ new fall collection on the runway during her fashion show. The trend-forward jewelry collection is available in silver tone, gold tone or copper tone. Jewelry from the collection includes a diamond accented bangle, a diamond accented knuckle corset ring and a double band choker. Each piece from the DIAMONDS UNLEASHED FOR SERENA WILLIAMS collection features a responsibly mined and produced diamond from CanadaMark.

THE DIAMONDS UNLEASHED VISION

Williams has partnered with Kara Ross’ Diamonds Unleashed organization, to create a beautiful and unique display of the jeweler’s talent, re-defining the act of purchasing diamonds and supporting women’s empowerment. Through Kara Ross’s vision for DIAMONDS UNLEASHED, the symbol of a diamond is extended to stand for women’s strength, independence and solidarity. Each piece celebrates individuality and empowerment — both for the women who designed them and for the woman who wears them.

The result is a line of cuff bracelets, choker necklaces, hoop earrings and rings that are gold-plated, some displaying responsibly mined CanadaMark diamond accents. The collection will retail starting at $169.90 and capping at $419.90. 

The designs are bold and fashion-forward with a nod to athletic inspiration via a lace-up motif. Each piece subtly incorporates the Diamond Unleashed logo, which Ross designed as a symbol of women’s empowerment. 

To further support the independence of the next generation of women, DIAMONDS UNLEASHED donates its net profits to multiple nonprofit partners, including She’s the First and Girls Who Code. Both organizations support women’s education and help women fulfill their potential by unleashing their talents. 

The U.K. Bans Queen Victoria’s Coronet From Leaving British Soil

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Queen Victoria's coronet (Courtesy of the U.K. Department for Culture, Media and Sport.)

Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, had a small crown (called a coronet) made for her as a wedding present. The silver coronet was studded with hundreds of small diamonds and topped off with 11 large, blue sapphires. The coronet’s current owner has now put the artifact up for auction. This has sparked a fear that a foreign buyer might try take it out of the U.K. British officials are now doing everything they can to try and ensure that one of her crowns does not leave British soil. “Queen Victoria’s coronet is stunning. It is one of the most iconic jewels from a pivotal period in our history and symbolizes one of our nation’s most famous love stories,” British Minister of State for digital and culture, Matt Hancock says in a statement. “I hope that we are able to keep the coronet in the U.K. and on display for the public to enjoy for years to come.”

The coronet is seen as both a symbol of her reign as well as of her relationship with Prince Albert. She wore it in official portraits, as well as in 1866, when she attended the State Opening of Parliament for the first time since her husband’s death five years before instead of the traditional coronation crown, the BBC reports.

Officials began to worry about what might happen to the iconic coronet when the current owner put it up for auction and applied for an export license. In an attempt to give some patriotic British buyer time to put in a competitive bid, Hancock has placed a temporary export ban on the coronet through December 27, 2016, though it has the option of being extended through June 2017 if a buyer demonstrates that they can raise money to cover the $6.5 million asking price, as well as $1.3 million in taxes on the sale. “Its departure would be a great loss, given its beauty, its associations and its history,” Philippa Glanville, a member of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest, says in a statement. It is unclear what will happen if the deadline passes without someone stepping up and promising to keep the crown in the country.

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75 Pound "Good Luck Charm" May Be The World's Largest Pearl

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The pearl is believed to be the biggest ever found. The authenticity of the pearl still must be verified by a gemologist for it to be named the world's largest.

Yesterday, mollusk mania took hold of the internet when reports surfaced of a massive pearl discovered in the Philippines. The 75-pound pearl was reportedly discovered by a fisherman about a decade ago when his anchor accidentally snagged a giant clam, G. Clay Whittaker reports for Popular Science. When he reeled it in, he was surprised to find a pearl nearly as big as the clam itself and kept it for years as a good luck charm.

While the pearl’s size may be stunning, the process that made it is more or less the same as the tiny ones worn on a string. When an object like a grain of sand gets stuck inside a mollusk’s shell, it can irritate the soft-bodied animal, which prompts it to start forming layers of calcium carbonate around the annoyance, according to Ellen Strong, a research zoologist at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

“It’s a natural process,” Strong tells Smithsonian.com. “The process of making a pearl is the outcome of making its shell.”

Though pearls are rarely found in clams, in theory it’s possible for nearly any shelled mollusk to make a pearl. All of these creatures harvest calcium carbonate from the water around them, which they use to form their hard, protective shells. Making a pearl is similar to creating the shell, but the layers of calcium carbonate encapsulate a foreign object instead of the mollusk’s own body.

“It’s like getting a splinter,” Strong says. “You don’t want to leave it in there. But unlike us, they don’t have opposable thumbs to help them pull it out.”

The pearl-making process isn’t just used to give the mollusk some relief from an abrasive object poking it in the soft parts—it can help fend off parasites as well. Mollusks are often the targets of parasites that bore into their shells in order to munch on the soft meat inside, but the same reaction that creates a pearl can also seal off these invaders and patch up the shell.

“It’s a defense mechanism like an immune response in humans,” Strong says. “It’s one of the options that it has to handle something that causes problems.”

The “Pearl of Puerto,” as local officials refer to the massive Philippine pearl, is certainly notable for its unusual size. While it still has to be confirmed by a gemologist, if it is a true pearl it could be the largest ever found, the BBC reports. By using x-rays to peer inside to its center, experts can count the gem’s growth rings, which are similar to those in a tree and can be used to estimate how long the giant clam worked to make this gigantic gem.

Pearls that are farmed, or cultured, grow to around a centimeter wide within a year, says Strong. Considering the size of the Pearl of Puerto, the giant clam had been worrying at it for quite some time.

Originally Reported by Smithsonian Magazine