Prepare yourself for a mini history lesson!
“One of the world’s most famous pearls, Peregrina, which translates from “pilgrim” is an appropriate name for a gem with five hundred years of history… The enormous silvery luster oval shaped perfect pearl weighs 203.84 grains… Discovered in the Gulf of Panama by a slave in the early 1500’s La Peregrina traveled to Spain with the conquistador Victor Nunez de Balboa and gifted to the Spanish King Ferdinand V. A century later Prince Philip II of Spain gave the beautiful pearl to his bride, Mary Tudor of England, on their wedding day. The Dutch painter Hans Eworth painted this portrait of the Queen Mary Tudor wearing the La Peregrina. a year after her coronation. Over the succeeding generations Spanish queens including Margarite and Isabel wore the pearl… “
This happened to be Elizabeth Taylor’s favorite jewel.