Its a real pity that Queen Victoria's digitised diaries are only available as paid academic resource and not open to individual researchers.
According to Stefano Papi the parure was made in 1894 but he does not give any further information, so it is possible that it was meant to be an engagement gift even if it was not presented on the actual day.
Kat Max, do you know anything more about the pink pearls? I wonder if they could have been conch pearls?
I have Pappi's book on the Romanov jewels but it hasn't been terribly useful for pinning down a lot of specifics.
One of the pearl necklaces *might* be in the photo of Alexandra in my first post but I can't be certain of this. There is speculation online that Alexandra's ring is a conch pearl but no proof that I can see.
This is why I said there's confusion about the pearl necklaces. I read one description saying the Windsor necklace had 5 rows (based on Buxhoveden's memoirs I think) but nobody else mentions this. Many of the stories seem slightly off. Not unexpected when they are being told many years after the event.
What I wrote in my first post is what I've pieced together from various books and on-line sources. I'm principally trying to put together the history of the fan but decided I should also look at the bigger picture in this case.
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