Adam's AT HOME AUCTION July 5th 2020

At Home 5 th July 2020 46 87 A GIFT FROM LORD BYRON AN EARLY 19TH CENTURY GEORGIAN GARNET SET, comprising of a necklace of floral detail, set throughout with fancy-cut garnets, a bangle and a pair of earrings of similar design, mounted in silver, necklace length 44cm, bangle inner diameter 5.7cm, earrings length 1.1cm; the owner purchased later a tortoiseshell hair comb and a pendant/brooch locket set with similarly-cut garnets as well as an element of similar style (some garnets deficient), mounted in silver, hair comb length 10cm, brooch-locker length 5.5cm, element length 2.7cm, within its original leather case, including a letter of provenance. € 800 - 1,200 Provenance: During the summer of 1803, while on holidays from school, the young sixteen year old Lord Byron fell in love with Mary Ann Chaworth. Byron had come into possession of Newstead Abbey on the death of his great-uncle in 1798. Mary Ann, two years his senior, was a distant relative of Byron’s and she lived nearby in Annesley. The two properties were adjoining and over the course of the summer months Byron’s devotion towards Mary Ann blossomed. As an expression of his affection, he offered her a present of this jewellery garnet set, which consists of a necklace, earrings and bracelet in a leather case. He did not succeed in winning her hand, as unfortunately, Chaworth was already engaged to John Musters and she was married two years later. While Chaworth does not seem to have been greatly affected by this in- cident, for Byron his unrequited love had a lasting effect on his character. This first love continued to influence Byron’s whole life and career and he later wrote ‘Had I married Miss Chaworth, perhaps the whole tenor of my life would have been different’. She was the subject of his poem ‘The Dream’ written in 1816. Over a century later, during the first world war, the garnet jewellery set was auctioned at a sale in Nottingham to raise money for the Red Cross. It was here that it was purchased by the current owner’s great grandfather, with a letter stating that it was a present from Lord Byron to Mary Ann. This letter was believed to have been a note recorded by the family many years before the sale of the garnet set in Nottingham. It is also believed that a portrait existed of Mary Ann Chaworth in which she is shown wearing the garnets.