From the estate of Consuelo Vanderbilt Earl, daughter of William K. Vanderbilt, Jr. and Niece of Consuelo Vanderbilt, Duchess of Marlborough, the collection totaled $1,510,688, surpassing its estimate of $546,000-897,500.
On April 15, 2013, Doyle New York auctioned jewelry, timepieces and objets de vertu from the Estate of Consuelo Vanderbilt Earl (1903-2011).
Highlighting the collection was a rare Cartier Art Deco rock crystal and diamond Model A Mystery clock
that achieved $515,000, well over its estimate of $200,000-400,000. The price was a world auction record for a Model A Mystery clock.
Few objects capture the imagination like the Cartier Mystery Clock. With childlike amazement the eye follows the hands as they float weightlessly, without a movement, dial or visible anchor. Truly sophisticated in its elegance, the Cartier Mystery Clock is as timeless as it is iconic.
The Mystery Clock is the result of collaboration between jeweler Louis Cartier and master clockmaker Maurice Couet, who had studied the enigmatic clock designs of French magician Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin (who later influenced Ehrich Weiss to perform his act under the name Houdini). Completed in 1913, the first Pendules Mysterieuses Model A mesmerized viewers for its technological achievement and use of illusion. The hands of the clock float amid a flawless rock crystal case and rotate on invisible crystal disks, the gears hidden within the gold columns, the clocks movement housed in the onyx base. Mystery Clocks required up to seven craftsmen to create, sometimes taking up to a year. An industry onto themselves, the Model A moniker pays homage to Henry Ford’s Model T of the same era. Naturally, the clocks appealed to sophisticated American industrialists, including J.P. Morgan, the owner of the first Model A clock sold in the United States.
Cartier Mystery Clock
designs of the 1920s range in influence from the exoticism of the Orient, so popular at that time, to the streamlined and understated elegance of American Art Deco architecture. The Model A tends towards the latter, and its style endures despite the passage of time and changes in fashion. Intensely sought and rare at auction, period Cartier Mystery Clocks are considered “the most valuable of all collector’s items with a Cartier signature” (Nadelhoffer, Hans. Cartier. p, 271).
Another Art Deco clock by Cartier of lapis and nephrite jade soared past its estimate of $20,000-30,000 to fetch a stunning $221,000. Jewelry from the collection featured an exquisite circa 1930 Art Deco rock crystal and diamond bangle bracelet by Cartier that sold for $100,000, many times its estimate of $20,000-30,000. By Tiffany & Co. was a circa 1904 natural pearl and diamond ring that sailed past its estimate of $15,000-20,000 to achieve $81,250. A circa 1930 Art Deco ruby and diamond clip by Cartier $62,500, more than doubling its estimate of $20,000-30,000.
Consuelo Vanderbilt Earl
A great-great-grand daughter of “The Commodore” Cornelius Vanderbilt, Consuelo Vanderbilt Earl was the daughter of William Kissam Vanderbilt, Jr. and his wife, mining heiress Virginia Graham Fair, whose father was a partner in the famed Comstock Lode. Her aunt and namesake, Consuelo Vanderbilt, married the Duke of Marlborough and became mistress of Blenheim Palace.
Consuelo Vanderbilt Earl was born into a family at the pinnacle of our nation’s Gilded Age. Over her 107 years, she was a sculptor, world traveler and prominent breeder of Skye and Silky Terriers, her activities and accomplishments appearing regularly in society’s chronicles.