The other day Vincent Meylan posted a very interesting item linking the fringe tiara purchased by the City of London as a wedding gift for Princess Marina of Greece, Duchess of Kent, to the Raini of Pudukkottai. See https://www.instagram.com/p/CC1IjeDFARJ/

Although I had heard of Molly Fink, who was referred to in the UK press of her era as the Ranee of Pudukota, I was totally unaware of the link to Princess Marina's City of London fringe tiara. Thank you Vincent for this information!

Molly Fink was an Australian, the daughter of Wolfe Fink, a Melbourne barrister and scholar as well as being the niece of Theodore Fink a solicitor, politician and news paper proprietor.

She and the Raja married in 1915 in Melbourne after having met earlier in the year.

Vincent Meylan's post prompted me to see what I could find about her jewels in the UK press.

Unfortunately, there is not much. The only tiara she seems to have been photographed wearing is the fringe, and the available photos show her wearing it flapper fashion on her forehead.



The jewel which seems to have been the most constantly worn (or at least photographed and mentioned in the press) was her pearl necklace. Several news items specifically mentioned the quality of these pearls.

For example, this press report in 1922.


These pearls remained part of her wardrobe,



even though it was reported in 1929 that she had lost a pearl necklace valued at over 6 thousand pounds.







Molly Fink's fortunes waned after the early death of her husband in 1928, but she remained very much part of the London and Riviera social scene.

Although I didn't find images of her wearing grand diamond necklaces, the reports of her having some magnificent diamond bracelets are backed up by at least one image of her wearing what looks like an important diamond bracelet.





She also had at least one set of important earrings -- which photos would suggest were of diamond and pearls.





I must acknowledge my interest to Vincent Meylan's post on his Instagram. Without it, I probably would not have tried to find out more about Molly Fink's jewels. No doubt there is a great deal more to be discovered. What a shame she was not photographed more often! Oops! I should say photographed wearing grand evening jewels, as she featured regularly in the press.