Deco-dent Gems

Photo courtesy of Bonhams

Jackie Collins, the late British-American romance author and sister of silver screen starlet Joan Collins, knew a thing or two about style. Dubbed the “queen of the ‘bonkbuster’” for her steamy and sometimes salacious novels, she was famed not only for her page-turning plots, but also for her flashy taste in fashion. Her go-to get-up often comprised leopard-print pieces, chunky jewellery and a blazer.

Photo courtesy of Bonhams

She also had a penchant for all things Art Deco. Many of her vintage 1920s and 30s pieces – artworks and jewellery alike – were sold as part of a Bonhams’ auction on 16 May. Three pieces of Art Deco jewellery, including a bracelet, brooch and necklace, were plucked up for US$161,250 (HK$1.26 million). One of the three pieces, a diamond emerald and platinum necklace, sold for US$56,250 alone. The jagged, geometric pattern of the necklace is softened by a dazzling array of diamonds – 44 carats in total. The brooch, which is French in origin, boasts a Colombian emerald surrounded by round, half-moon, square step and baguette-cut diamonds, and some more square calibré-cut emeralds. After Jackie’s death from breast cancer in 2015, her sister said in a tribute, “Wherever you are, my darling sister, you deserve a red carpet and a throne.” We hope she’s right and imagine that it’s a leopard-print throne, encrusted with jewels.