Above: The Aurora Pearl of Paspaley.
“Paspaley’s natural pearl.. don’t you mean cultured pearl?,” asked Isaac Levy of Yvel Pearls, over lunch at Fred’s here in New York last Monday. I just told him that Paspaley is offering an important natural pearl necklace at Christie’s Hong Kong. It came as no surprise to hear Isaac’s response. Paspaley and natural pearls. It may seem to be a contradiction, a seeming oxymoron, that Paspaley, the world’s leading producer of cultured South Sea pearls, would offer a natural pearl for auction sale. Not many are aware that apart from being world renowned for their cultured South Sea pearls, Paspaley has a rich history of continuous operation in natural pearl fishery as well as a spectacular private collection of natural pearls.
This November 26, Christie’s will offer one of the most significant natural pearls from the Paspaley collection for auction. Discovered in 2003, the Aurora is the largest ‘virgin’ or undrilled pearl ever offered at auction and one of the largest from the Paspaley collection.
A natural and diamond pendant necklace. The pendant set with an undrilled white baroque natural pearl drop to the pear-shaped diamond surmount suspended from a briolette diamond neckchain, mounted in 18k white gold. Estimate US$190,000-300,000.
Named after the Roman Goddess of the Dawn, the Aurora pearl is characterized by an intense pink, blue and green orient on a pure white ground, the play of color recalling the delicate beauty of the beginning of the day. Mounted for Paspaley by the renowned designer Edmond Chin, the setting allows the beauty of the pearl to be displayed without drilling in order to retain its natural perfection.
Today, it is interesting to note that Paspaley had its beginnings in natural pearl fishing.The family migrated from Greece to Western Australia in 1919 and settled in the tiny port of Cossack, where the matriarch of the family, Xrisifina Paspalis, began trading in natural pearls. By the early 1930’s, two of her sons and one of her daughters had become Master Pearlers employing hard-hat divers to fish for wild Pinctada Maxima oysters.
Xrisifina’s youngest son, Nick Paspaley Sr., expanded his company with funds raised by the sale of a single fine quality natural pearl he discovered in 1936. In the following years, he discovered more natural pearls.
In the late 1950’s, the focus of the business changed to the cultivation of cultured pearls but the family tradition of fishing for natural pearls continued. Over the last 50 years, most of these natural pearls have been carefully preserved in a private collection. They have only been publicly displayed at special exhibitions in important institutions including the American Museum of Natural History, the Field Museum in Chicago and the Smithsonian Institute, where some of the collection were displayed alongside the La Peregrina and the Hope Diamond. Hence, this coming auction at Christie’s is a landmark event for Paspaley as it would be the first time they would be selling one of their largest natural pearls at an auction.
To this day, natural pearls are still sometimes found in the course of their fishing operations. But as Nick Paspaley Sr. discovered early on: One day, one may just be lucky to find them in the waters.
Paspaley’s ‘Aurora Pearl’ is being auctioned at the Christie’s Magnificent Jewels Auction in Hong Kong on November 26, 2013.
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