Under the hammer: A pair of Van Cleef & Arpels earrings with an intriguing connection to Princess Grace of Monaco

On January 5, 1955, Prince Rainier of Monaco and Grace Kelly announced to the world that they were engaged, sending newspaper editors across the globe into a spin and turbo-charging everyone’s fascination with the seemingly fairytale romance.

Kelly — who was 26 when she got engaged — received not one, but two diamond rings. The first one was a Cartier-designed eternity band, encrusted with rubies and diamonds in a stylish nod to Monaco’s national colours. The second was also by Cartier, and gifted to her by her fiancé whilst she was on the set of her last film, High Society.

Production started just a few weeks after the Prince had gotten down on one knee. When the actress was asked to wear a faux diamond ring on set she suggested that she could wear her own instead, but the costume designer deemed the eternity band out of step for the wealthy socialite character that she was supposed to be portraying. And so, Prince Rainier came to the rescue with a 10.48-carat, emerald-cut diamond design.

The couple were married a short-while later — serene despite the media maelstrom that continued to whip round them (20,000 well-wishers greeted Kelly when she arrived in Monaco by boat for the wedding, a significant portion of the country’s population at the time which numbered about 23,000). At some point before the two marriage ceremonies, one civil and the other religious, Prince Rainier commissioned Van Cleef & Arpels to make a pair of earrings featuring pearls ‘to match Grace’s delicate beauty.’ The French jewellery house duly got to work, surrounding the requested pearls with a feather-like sweep of baguette and marquise diamonds, all set in platinum. The set remained in Kelly’s collection until her untimely death in 1982, and, to this day, are still stored at the Palais Rainier in Monaco.

After the nuptial weekend, Van Cleef, who now had the distinct honour of being named a ‘Patented supplier of the Principality of Monaco’, created a second version of the design with one subtle, but significant detail. Kelly’s earrings were made using cultured pearls; the new design used more valuable natural ones. It is this version which will go under the hammer in Woolley and Wallis’ Fine Jewellery sale on April 15-16 with an estimate of £60,000-£70,000.