AN ELABORATE ITALIAN ANTIQUE STYLE GOLD AND PEARL BRACELET

Description:

Rome, 3rd quarter of the 19th century
D. 6,3, Front L. ca. 5,8 cm
917/000 yellow gold (XRF spectroscopy), hallmark for the city of Rome with the crossed keys and tiara. Very fine granulate work and fine gold wire work on bangle and front pendant, set with 35 seed pearls. Minute damage underneath one rondell and one rondell slightly loose. Weight ca. 64,5 g.
Created by a Roman master goldsmith, this antique-style bracelet was owned by the Italian doctor Rinaldo Rapallini and his descendants.
According to family tradition, the bracelet was a personal gift from the Italian Queen Margherita di Savoia (1851-1926) to her doctor Dr. Rapallini.
Rinaldo Rapallini worked at the Vittorio Emanuele II Hospital in La Spezia and in this capacity, he was the holiday doctor of Queen Margherita di Savoia, wife of King Umberto I, when she was on the Ligurian coast. On one of these occasions, the Queen gave him the bracelet for his wife as a gesture of gratitude and solidarity. She had received the bracelet as a gift herself, but it was too small for her wrist. He was a perfect fit for Rapallini's wife.
After the death of his wife, Rapallini gave the bracelet to one of his sisters, who then bequeathed it to the mother of the current owner and daughter of Rinaldo Rapallini's youngest son and only female descendant.