Circa 1750-1760 Colonial Era, Pair of Two Rhinestones Removed from George Washington's Personal Colonial-Era Jeweled Sterling Silver Shoe Buckles, Professionally Housed in a Shadowbox Display with Provenance Plaque, plus additional Provenance provided, Extremely Fine.
This Highlight Lot consists of Two Rhinestones, cuurently loose, fully documented as originally decorating a pair of Colonial-era jeweled shoe buckles personally owned and worn by General George Washington. The buckles themselves were highly decorative being fabricated of steel and sterling silver with their borders lined in baguette rhinestones and diamond-shaped gems. Each Rhinestone currently offered is individually mounted and matted within its own small frame, the Pair presented side by side housed within a custom shadowbox measuring 18.0" x 11.0" x 2.5" overall. The shadowbox additionally displays a color photograph of the Original Pair of Buckles, a Portrait of George Washington and a small engraved metal plaque stating Provenance.

The pair of shoe buckles descended through the family of George Washington Parke Custis, who was Martha Washington's grandson and George Washington's adopted stepson. This pair was sold at Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, in a 1956 sale of Washington family items, catalogued as Lot MGW-170. Their originality and significance is further documented in the Annual Report of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union, 1959, page 34. The Pair of Silver Buckles themselves were most recently sold in an auction realizing $16,830, catalogued in very good to fine condition and noted as “missing several baguettes” from their original settings. The Two Rhinestones currently offered here are those two missing settings.

[Federal Period, Early Republic, 19th Century America] [George Washington, George Washington Parke Custis, Mount Vernon] [Relics, Decorative Arts, Presentation and Trophy Pieces]