A THREE-STRAND NATURAL PEARL NECKLACE

A THREE-STRAND NATURAL PEARL NECKLACE, WITH DIAMOND CLASP, LATE 19TH C Sold with The Gem & Pearl Laboratory report dated 16 October 2015: 90, 94 and 102 Natural (saltwater) pearls (except one, the 52nd from the tongue in row of 102), 3.2-8.3mm wide.Provenance: Sir Robert Lucas Tooth, Bt (1844-1915); thence by descent to the present vendor. A partner of R & F Tooth & Co, owners of the Kent Brewery in Sydney, New South Wales, Sir Robert Lucas Tooth was he son of Edwin Tooth and his wife Sarah née Lucas. He was educated at Eton and on returning to Australia bought the Kameruka estate where he demonstrated advanced ideas on social responsibility, creating model homes and facilities for his tenants. In 1889 he moved with wife and children to England living first in Queen's Gate, London before buying the Holme Lacy estate in Herefordshire where he lived until his death. A public benefactor and politician, he was survived by his wife and three daughters. His three sons all being killed in action in World War One, his baronetcy was recreated by George V in 1920 for the eldest son of Tooth's eldest daughter.