the central emerald approx. 7.2mm x 7mm, surrounded by an open square containing twelve rose-cut diamonds approx. 2.5mm each, with a further two pear-shaped, rose-cut claw-set diamonds approx. 5.4mm x 4.3mm and two oval rose-cut diamonds approx. 6.3mm x 5.4mm each and thirty six rose-cut diamonds surrounding the main stones in a pear-shape formation approx. 3mm each
| Condition Report: | click here |
| Estimate: | £2,000 - £4,000 |
| Hammer price: | £1,200 |
the two pear formations are linked by a chain style bridge containing a further 18 rose cut diamonds approx. 1mm each. approx. 6.8cm x 2.5cm (c.18.78g gross weight)
Provenance: The Estate of the late John Rollo Somerset-Paddon, formerly of Chalk Newton House, Maiden Newton, Dorset, thence by descent.
The Estate of the late John Rollo Somerset-Paddon
The Somerset-Paddon line enjoys an illustrious heritage and is formed of two keys families, the Savorys and the Somersets.
Thomas Field Savory (1776-1847), a protégé of Dr Jenner, co-founded the London pharmacists Savory & Moore. In 1836 he was appointed ‘One of the Gentlemen of His Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Chamber in the Ordinary’. The firm was a key supplier to the Royal Family (supplying anointing oils to Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation in 1953) and the War Office remaining in family hands until 1992.
The de Somerset family, is noted in the Domesday book and linked to the Seymour family of Great Bedwyn (their ancestral home being Wulfhall), notably Lady Jane Seymour (1541-1561) third wife of King Henry VIII. In 1825, Edmund Somerset was living at the Manor House in Milton Lilbourne, near Pewsey in Wiltshire.
In later years, the Somerset-Paddons enjoyed a society presence, with Rebecca Wreford Paddon being painted by Whistler and Frank Miles, Eva Wreford Paddon campaigning as a suffragette and Philp Paddon co-founding (with Sir Tommy Sopwith) Paddon Brothers, a London based Rolls Royce agent.
Cecil Somerset-Paddon (b.1875), the father of the deceased, fought in the Mexican Civil War for Pancho Villa, later moving to New Zealand where he joined ANZAC forces in the Gallipoli campaign.
John Rollo Somerset-Paddon, was born in Cromer, Norfolk in 1920 and moved to the then Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 1938/39. At the outbreak of WWII he travelled, primarily by foot, the length of Africa to arrive in the North African desert to fight. He was captured by the Italians and spent the next 4 years as a prisoner of war working in the salt mines in Italy and Germany.
After the war he was repatriated back to Rhodesia , where he continued to work in the mines. In 1962, he returned to England, where he put himself through Cirencester Agricultural College, farming in different locations until finally moving to Chalk Newton House, Maiden Newton in 1988.
Metal is discoloured and pin slightly mishapen. Overall wear in line with age.
All stones measured in setting, so measurements and weights are approximate and condition reports are offered as a guide only.
