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Auction: 26052 - Jewellery & Objets de Vertu
Lot: 75

(x) AN EARLY 20TH CENTURY STICK PIN, WITH MONOGRAM OF QUEEN ALEXANDRINE OF DENMARK
The head designed as the crowned monogram 'A' of Queen Alexandrine of Denmark, born Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1879-1952), in blue enamel set with rose-cut diamonds.
Unmarked
Size/dimensions: 3.80cm long
Gross weight: 4.26g

All diamonds are present, one slightly loose. There is a significant chip and loss to the blue enamel on the upper left curve of the monogram, exposing the gold beneath, and light abrasion to the remaining enamel, which retains its rich colour. The gold shows a gentle dark patina, with some softening to the settings. The shaft is intact and relatively straight; soldering suggests it may have been adapted from an earlier piece. The pin is offered in good condition.


Alexandrine, born Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, married the future Christian X (see the previous lot) in 1898. She was the sister of Grand Duke Friedrich Franz IV (see lot 73).



Between the mid-nineteenth century and the First World War, the stick pin was an essential accessory for any well-dressed man, worn to secure and ornament the folds of a cravat or tie. It was also one of the most personal gifts a sovereign or royal household could bestow. Pins set with a crowned cypher or monogram were given as tokens of favour and remembrance to courtiers, officials, household staff, visiting dignitaries, and the guests and companions of royal shooting parties, regattas and state visits. Small enough to be given freely, yet unmistakably royal, they carried their recipient's connection to the court wherever they were worn.



Reading these jewels is part of their appeal. The initials are often intertwined or mirrored so that they read in either direction, sometimes with a regnal numeral, and the form of the crown above signals rank: imperial and royal crowns, the archducal crown of the Habsburgs, and the strawberry-leaved coronet of a duke. Many pins survive in the cases of the court jewellers who supplied them, and the cases in this section form a small directory of royal patronage, from Sy & Wagner, Court Goldsmiths in Berlin, and V. Mayer's Söhne, Imperial and Royal Court Jewellers in Vienna, to E. & R. Altenloh, purveyors to the King and Queen of the Belgians, and Benzie of Cowes, the yachtsmen's jeweller.



The families represented here, among them Hanover, Denmark, Belgium, Bavaria, Saxony, Prussia and Habsburg Austria, were closely bound together by marriage, and pins such as these passed freely between their courts. Within a few years, many of these monarchies had gone. The war that began with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914 ended in 1918 with the fall of the German, Austro-Hungarian and Russian empires, and the crowned cyphers on these small gold jewels belong to a world that vanished almost overnight.

Subject to 5% tax on Hammer Price in addition to 20% VAT on Buyer’s Premium.

Estimate
£300 to £400

Starting price
£200