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The Osborn Pearls (with case)
The Osborn Pearls (with case)

The Osborn Pearls (with case)

Manufacturer
Retailer
Date1906
Geographic OriginNew York, New York | United States of America
MediumNatural Pearls, platinum, diamonds, silk satin, silk velvet, silver
DimensionsLength (necklace overall with clasp-1): 57 1/4 in. (145.4 cm)
Overall (box-2): H 7 x W 7 x D 1 1/2 in. (H 17.8 x W 17.8 x D 3.8 cm)
Credit LinePurchase 2014 Alberto Burri Memorial Fund established by Stanley J. Seeger
Object numberTR58.2014.1.1,2
On View
Not on view
Object NameNecklace | Pearls | Box
Title Details
Label Caption Title The Osborn Pearls (with case)
InscriptionsCase interior stamped in gold "Marcus & Co., Jewellers, 5th AVE. COR. 45th ST., New York." Silver script letters on case exterior, "LPO from HFO 1881-1906"Marks and Labels/StampsNecklace unmarked: box stamped with jeweler's name.ProvenanceThe giver of the pearls was, as it happens, a hugely important figure in the annals of natural history in America. Henry Fairfield Osborn (1857-1935) was the heir to a railroad fortune and a nephew of J. P. Morgan. He grew up in New York, with his family's gilded age mansion, "Castle Point" in Garrison-on-Hudson. Osborn became one of the most important paleontologists in America, having described and named the tyrannosaurus (1905) and the velociraptor (1924). He was the president of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. In 1895, along with Theodore Roosevelt and Elihu Root (my great-grandfather) he was one of the founding organizers of the NY Zoological Society (aka the Bronx Zoo). A copy of his memoir is in the museum library. In 1881, Osborn married Lucretia Thatcher Perry (1858-1930), who was the daughter of a general and a descendant of the famous Commodore Perry. Lucretia and Henry lived at Castle Rock and raised five children there; she also wrote three books later in her life, one of which was a biography of George Washington written in the first person, called Washington Speaks for Himself. I have purchased a period copy of this for our library. Pearls appeared at Skinner's auction in Boston in 2013; purchased by currentowner for $36,000 (copy of that record in file). Owner put the pearls up at auction in NYC (Sotheby's or Christie's) in January 2014. They did not sell. Owner consigned the pearls to Robert Aretz in 2014 when he learned that NM was interested. Exhibition History"Jewelry: From Pearls to Platinum to Plastic," Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey (June 27, 2015-ongoing).

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