Mary Pickford — The Star Whose Sapphire Sits in the Smithsonian
Mary Pickford — The Star Whose Sapphire Sits in the Smithsonian
Silent-era film legend and original owner of the 182-carat Star of Bombay
Mary Pickford (born Gladys Marie Smith, 1892–1979) was a Canadian-born American film actress, producer, and one of the four founding partners of United Artists (with Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and D. W. Griffith). In the gemmological record she is principally known as the original owner of the Star of Bombay, a 182-carat blue star sapphire that she bequeathed to the Smithsonian Institution on her death and that has remained on permanent display at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington since 1981. The provenance has elevated the stone's standing in the historical sapphire literature and is one of the most consistently cited examples of American silent-era jewellery patronage.
Career
Pickford began her stage career as a child actress in Toronto in the 1890s and entered film in 1909, working initially with the Biograph Company under D. W. Griffith. She moved to feature films in the 1910s and through the late silent era was one of the highest-paid and most-bankable performers in American cinema, known for her on-screen persona of America's Sweetheart. Her business acumen was equally significant: she was a co-founder of United Artists in 1919, giving the four founding partners control over the distribution of their own films at a time when the studio system was consolidating, and she managed her own career and finances throughout the silent era. She married the actor Douglas Fairbanks in 1920 (her second marriage); the Pickford-Fairbanks union was the most photographed Hollywood marriage of the silent era.
The Star of Bombay
The Star of Bombay is a 182-carat blue star sapphire from the Sri Lankan deposits, cut and polished as a high-domed cabochon to display the asterism — the six-rayed star produced by reflection from rutile silk inclusions oriented along the crystallographic axes of the corundum. The star on the Star of Bombay is exceptionally sharp, the rays clearly defined and the centre of the star tightly focused — characteristics that distinguish a top-tier star sapphire from the more common diffuse-star material. The body colour is a medium-saturated violetish-blue, lighter than the saturated blues of the finest faceted sapphires but appropriate for the cabochon presentation.
The stone was given to Pickford by Douglas Fairbanks during their marriage. Pickford wore the sapphire mounted as a ring throughout her later life. On her death in 1979 the Star of Bombay was bequeathed, per the terms of her will, to the Smithsonian Institution, where it joined the National Gem Collection. The Smithsonian display has presented the stone alongside the Hope Diamond, the Logan Sapphire, and the other major pieces of the National Gem Collection since 1981.
Wider gem collection
Pickford's wider jewellery collection included diamond and pearl pieces from Cartier and Tiffany, several emerald pieces, and additional sapphires. The collection was modest by the standards of her contemporaries Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo — Pickford's taste ran to a small number of significant pieces rather than to the volume collecting practised by some of her peers — but the Star of Bombay was the centrepiece and the piece for which she is remembered in the gemmological record.
Legacy
Pickford's bequest of the Star of Bombay is one of the consequential 20th-century private gifts to the Smithsonian National Gem Collection, alongside the Marjorie Merriweather Post bequest (the Napoleon Diamond Necklace, the Maximilian Emerald, and other pieces) and the Harry Winston gift of the Hope Diamond. The provenance has elevated the stone's standing within the literature of historical sapphires and is one of the most consistently cited examples of American silent-era jewellery patronage.
In the trade
For dealers and auction professionals, the Star of Bombay is a useful reference example for top-tier blue star sapphire — the sharpness of the asterism and the body colour are the principal evaluation criteria, both demonstrable on the stone. The Smithsonian National Gem Collection catalogue and the standard literature on Sri Lankan corundum (Karl Schmetzer's published work, periodic articles in GIA Gems & Gemology) are the standard references.