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An Exquisite Collection of Jewelry, the Property of Two Sisters, Elizabeth Calvin Bonner and Margaret Calvin Bowles, Sold to Benefit the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri*
Margaret Calvin Bowles and Elizabeth Calvin Bonner were born into one of the Midwest's first families, but they made names for themselves in the East, where they led lives of glamour and social prominence. Their father, J.M. Calvin, made his fortune in steel manufacturing in Kansas City, Missouri in the early 20th century and provided his daughters with a comfortable upbringing and education to which they later credited much of their success. Both girls traveled to New York City in the 1920s where they pursued careers in modeling and married successful men. Throughout their lives, Margaret Calvin Bowles and Elizabeth Calvin Bonner collected beautiful jewels that enhanced their own loveliness at public and private events.
Margaret was the first to arrive in New York in the mid-1920s. She modeled for some of the finest Fifth Avenue specialty shops until she met and married wealthy bachelor Anders Conrad Ostergren. They enjoyed an active social life, attending Broadway shows, hosting suppers and frequenting nightclubs nearly every evening. Their presence was widely reported in the newspapers and society magazines of the day; and photographs of Margaret were often featured. Later in life Margaret married Judson W. Bowles of Washington D.C. Mr. Bowles served in the Diplomatic Corps, and the couple frequented Washington society, attending charity events and vacationing in fashionable Rehoboth Beach.
Elizabeth followed her sister to New York City where she studied design at the Traphagen School of Art. She embarked upon a modeling career "by accident," one day substituting for a friend who was ill. Known to the public as Betty Wyman (the surname of her second husband), she quickly became the highest paid model in the world. Best known as the original Lucky Strike cigarette girl, Betty was also the spokeswoman and model for furs, gowns and jewelry in dozens of national advertising campaigns. She graced the pages of almost every magazine and newspaper in America. Perhaps the pinnacle of her career was starring in the Hollywood film "Vogues of 1938".
On January 1st 1938, Betty married hit Broadway producer Jack McGowan. Upon her marriage, Elizabeth gave up her modeling career to run homes in Hollywood and Charleston, South Carolina. Eventually the McGowans settled entirely in Charleston where they restored several of the city's historic homes. Elizabeth's prized restoration project was her own pre-revolutionary-era house at 91 East Bay Street on Charleston's renowned Rainbow Row. Later, she married author Paul Hyde Bonner, who had served in the American embassies both in Paris and in Rome. Mrs. Bonner also pursued her love for making sculpture and exhibited in several South Carolina shows and at the Gibbes Art Gallery in Charleston.
Mrs. Bowles and Mrs. Bonner's jewels adorned them through lifetimes of public appearances and society events. As women who traveled in the most glamorous circles, they dressed elegantly and selected jewelry to match. Their collections evoke their fascinating lives, encompassing examples of Belle Epoque, Art Deco and Retro jewels from the Houses of Cartier, Tiffany and Seaman Schepps, and from designer Suzanne Belperron. Each jewel is a tribute to these two ladies' sense of fashion and joie de vivre.
*Please note that lots 238 - 249 are exempt from New York State sales tax. For further information, please see the policy outlined in the back of the catalogue on page 233.
A DIAMOND AND GOLD NECKLACE
Details
A DIAMOND AND GOLD NECKLACE
Composed of three circular-cut diamond bombé clusters, joined by circular-cut diamond or fluted gold links to the fluted gold swags and snake-link backchain, mounted in gold, (center diamond cluster detaches to be worn as a ring, with ring attachment)
Composed of three circular-cut diamond bombé clusters, joined by circular-cut diamond or fluted gold links to the fluted gold swags and snake-link backchain, mounted in gold, (center diamond cluster detaches to be worn as a ring, with ring attachment)