AN EXQUISITE BELLE ÉPOQUE DIAMOND 'DEVANT DE CORSAGE'

This very flexible laurel leaf spray would have probably originally been a section of a tiara. A similar example, made by Fabergé and in the collection of the Duke and Duchess of Westminster, is published in Geoffrey C. Munn, Tiaras, A History of Splendor, Suffolk (2001), page 299, plate 268, together with a design for another tiara by E Wolfe and Co, plate 269, where Munn notes that laurel and myrtle-leaf wreath tiaras were made by the London firm for both European and American clients including the likes of the Queen of Spain, Viscountess Astor and Edward VII's favourite, the Hon. Mrs Keppel.