When hunting for information about the jewels of the Marchionesses of Londonderry, I came across information about a proposed exhibition of jewels by Coco Chanel to raise funds for the Personal Services League for Distressed Areas.
The exhibition was to be held at Londonderry House, London commencing on 1 December 1932. Obviously the aim was to raise money to assist during the Depression.
The exhibition was advertised -- then it ran into difficulties because of import duties which would be charged and were not refundable even with guarantees none of the jewels would be sold in the UK and would be taken back to France.
The cost of the import duties was 30 thousand pounds.
I haven't checked in Hansard (the record of UK's parliament) but it would appear from the news report below that the issue was taken up in parliament -- without success.
The jewels, which it was hoped to exhibit, came from Coco Chanel's first foray in fine jewellery. The designs from some are still used by Chanel today.
Some of the jewels