Bonhams New York Jewels sale is filled with treasures: on May 24, 2022, jewels on the auction block include a 101-carat Colombian emerald Art Deco bracelet by Cartier, circa 1926, from the collection of Hélène Irwin Crocker Fagan (1887–1966), one of the richest American heiresses in the world during the Belle Epoque and Art Deco eras.
Daughter of William G. Irwin, an English capitalist who amassed a fortune as a sugar baron in Hawaii, Hélène married Templeton Crocker (grandson of Charles Crocker, one of the big four railroad magnates) in 1911.
The newspapers went wild, and the San Francisco Call headline read, “Crocker-Irwin Wedding Bells Clink of Gold: Vast Fortunes to be United at Altar.” Hélène also owned a wonderful pearl and diamond aigrette by Cartier, circa 1914, and a collection of elegant cigarette cases and objects.
