Jewelled pig-shaped evening bag sells at auction for nearly £110,000

An eccentric pig-shaped diamond and ruby evening bag has sold for more than £109,000 at auction.

The unusual purse – which went for 44 times more than expected – formed part of a huge sale of glittering jewellery and antique heirlooms which belonged to the late Countess Mountbatten of Burma

The high society treasures fetched a total of over £5.6 million at Sotheby’s on Wednesday.

Patricia Knatchbull, the 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma, who died in 2017, was a first cousin of the Duke of Edinburgh a great-great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria and a great niece of Russia’s last Tsarina.

She was the daughter of Earl Mountbatten – the last Viceroy of India – who was murdered by the IRA in 1979, and his wife Edwina.

Among the 385 lots was the Banks diamond brooch which sold for £138,600.

The piece – which originally belonged to the explorer and botanist Joseph Banks – is set with a cushion-shaped yellow diamond, and was estimated to fetch up to £60,000.

The historic jewel was passed down through the Knatchbull Baronets.

The Lacloche Freres ruby and diamond evening mesh bag in the shape of a pig sold for £109,620 – 44 times its estimate of between £2,000 and £3,000.

The unusual purse features eyes set with cabochon rubies, a tail and trotters made of rose-cut diamonds and a spine of cushion-shaped diamonds.

It belonged to the Countess’s mother Edwina, the 1st Countess Mountbatten of Burma.

The Mountbatten family loved animals and had a menagerie of pets wherever they lived, including a horse gifted to Edwina and Louis Mountbatten by the Maharajah of Jaipur for their wedding, and a lion cub that Edwina brought home from South Africa when Patricia was 13.

Sotheby’s said 1,400 bidders registered from 55 countries for the auction.

Queen Victoria’s mourning jewels – a button, brooch and two pendants – some containing locks of hair sold for a combined total of £100,800.

The items were said to have brought solace to Victoria following the death of her mother and three of her nine children.

They included a banded agate and diamond pendant commissioned by Prince Albert in 1861 with a miniature photograph of the Duchess of Kent and a lock of hair which sold for £32,760.

A customised 1967 Jaguar 420 which belonged to Lord Mountbatten went for £126,000.

The car was painted in the Mountbatten Blue colours of his Viceroy livery and was one of the last cars driven by the earl.

A pair of jewelled and enamelled gold elephants found a new home for £34,020.

Inscribed in Lord Mountbatten’s handwriting with ‘Edwina from Dickie’ and ‘18 July 1946’, the elephants made in Jaipur were a gift from Lord Mountbatten to Edwina for their 24th wedding anniversary.

An Art Deco “Tutti Frutti” inspired gem set and diamond necklace with rubies, emeralds and sapphires sold for £107,100.

A Faberge timepiece bought by the last Tsarina of Russia for 200 roubles, as a gift for the parents of Louis Mountbatten in 1897, sold for £81,900 – four times its estimate.

The total raised by the London auction – which lasted 10-and-a-half hours – was £5,620,798.

David Macdonald, Sotheby’s specialist and head of the sale, said: “An auction like today, with its heady mix of history and glamour, does not come up very often, and so it has been a truly special experience to be a part of.”

All prices include buyer’s premium.